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The Photographic Times
I
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THE
Photographic Times.
AN
ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE Devoted to the Interests of
ARTISTIC AND SCIENTIFIC PHOTOGRAPHY.
VOLUME xx:xii
NEW YORK: the PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
1900
Digitized by
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THE NEW YorxK
PUFLIC i:3RAKY
A?" OR LC-^'OX AND TILCIN CL-OAfiONa,
R 190 1 U.
Digitized by
Google I
^
AUTHORS AND ARTISTS.
Abel, J. C 262
Abbott. C. YaraaU 177
Adams, W. I. Liacoln 10, 11, 12, 173
Adamson, Prescott 293, 387, 463, 477
Agnew, W. P 530
Alexandre 304
Alien, F. S. & M. E 148, 516
Annan. J. Craig 4, 426
Archibald, D 275, 433
Aschmann, F. T 219, 255
Baer, C. L 548
Baker. F. C 43 5 . 438
Baker. M. L ...372,373
Baker. W. C 481,518543,567
Bartlett, Jr.. Geo. D 326
Barklie, Francis 218
Berg. Chas. 1 72
Bellows, Daniel E 77
Ben Yusuf, Zaida opposite 433, 457
Beeby, John 260, 265, 278
Beasley, H. A 193 210 262, 413. 469, 459, 469, 478
492, 507
Bertling, Walter 215, 423, 428, 434, 445, 456
Bertling, Walter G 576
Bertling, W. E 108
Blackburn, W 529. 433
Blackball , W. B 128
Boughner, Mrs. A. E 224
Bowlus, E. Lingan 529
Boon, E. G 128
Bobne. W 131
Breese, Jas. L opposite i
Brown, M. Lamont 47
Brock, R. N 506, 541, 488
Brinton, B. W. . . f 74
Bushby, John 439
Bucqnet, Maurice 6
Bullock, John G 424
Carpenter, John 109, 344, 397, 450
Carkhuff, N. W 204
Carter. Jr.. J. F 30
Carlin, Wm. E 474
Chaffee. A. D 296, €22
Clements. Alfred 211, 239, 242, 351
Clow, W. S : 408, 453
Clark, Rose : 527
Clute, Fayette J 292, 348, 385
Cochraine, A 213
CogsweU, W. E 31
Coryell, John R 436
Cook, Allen Drew. . ." 527
Curtis, Jr., John 169. 170
Currie, George S 272
Davis, Mrs. M. M 364, 365
Day, F. Holland 104, 105, 107, 128
Page
Dawson, Howard Park 244
Dahl,WillA 557
Delery, Henry C 155, 216, 390, 39r, 393, 394, 395, 396
Demachy, Robert 5, 28, 303, 339, 38S. 402, 479. 558
Delmonico, L. Crist i£
Dewees, J. H 136
Devens, Mary 7, 505
Degenhardt, M 470
Diihrkoop, R 220
Dunmore, W. E 269
Dunn, J. H 33
Duchochois, P. C 24, 69, 100
Edminson, T. M...163, 164, 165. 166, 167. 178, 186, 474
Emmens. Newton W r66. 305, 307
Emerine, Andrew 135
Eugene, Frank 449
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolph 59, opp. 145, 154, 161.
i6c, 533. 465, 471. 479
Famsworth, Emma 76
Fairman, Chas. E 328
Ferguson. E. Lee 4
Felix, Frederic 34, 505
Felloes, Edgar 14. 25, 85, 207, 208, 209
Firmin, Geo. D 500
Ford, Sylvester 140
Fuguet, Dallett 491
Gleason. Arthur A . 67
Gallagher, J. A 80, 109,, 156, 210
Gatch, Mrs. Helen P 222. 230
Gatch, Mrs. Claude 325.379
Gaedickel, G 537
Gay, Daniel opposite 385
Gardner, A. B 446
Galoupeau. Henry 451
Gloeden, W. von 214, 536, 540, 561
Gratacap, L. P 62
Green. F.C 87
Hansen, Fritz 485
Hankins, George 392, 408, 473
Hamm opposite 320
Hayden, Mrs. C. S 224
Haskell.W.S 260
Hartmann, Sadakichi 18, 59, 102, 161, 195
Hampshire, H 133
Hess, Herbert A 82, 160
Hersey. GeO 139, 141, 277
Heidentraus, H 534
Henning, Bertel 0 572
Henry. R. G 343
Heard, E. N 360
Hebberd, Edgar Z 398
Hewitt, Arthur opposite 481, 481, 482, 483. 484
485, 486, 487 Helf , Max 535
Digitized by
IV
AUTHORS AND ARTISTS.— Continued.
Pasre
Hill, Primrose i3. 70, 114, 179, 218, 264, 308, 365
396. 469 516, 542
Himes, Ph.D., Charles 289
Hitchcock, Romyn 319, 434
Hodgins, J. P 116
Home, Archibald B 1 19
Hofmeister. Th. & O 27. 194
Hofmeister, Th 511
Holden, A 279, 355
Ingram, W. A 513
Johnson, Frances B 65
Johnson, C. A 312
Johnstone, H. McBean 310, 311, 337
K^ebier, Gertrude 52, 79, opposite 193, 195, 196, 197
198, 199, 202, 229
Kaufman. R. S • 236
Keiley, Joseph T 8, 78, opp. 241, 258, 263, 267, 276
Kilburn. B. W 171, 172, 173, 174
Kime. M.D., J. W 508
Knappen, Nellie M. C 153, 318
Kupper, L. V 556
Lee, Edgar G 29
Lord. Frank N 261, 275
Lowe, Adolph Karl 549
Lund, Percy 254, 314, 315, 316
Lutz, J. G , 371
Martin, Paul 6
Maxwell, Chas. E 26,218
Marissiaux, J 306
Marissiaux, G 361
Mathes, Eduard 501
McCord, Wm. A 183
McCorkle, J. H 389, 404, 419, 437
McCormick, L. M 346
Meeker, Geo. C 53, 54, 55, 58, 69, 460, 461, 462, 463
Meldon, Louis 45q
Meyer, M.D., Johannes 241
Miller. Wm. Alex 200
Miller, Frank R in, 189
Miles, H. T 310
Miller. E. M 302, 443
Mossl, Karl 537
Moreno 547
Moss. W. H 130
Muir, Ward 377
Mummery, J. C. S 274, 414
Mulligan, M.D., Louis H 17
Mudge, E. L opposite 32
Murphy, Wm. D ,71, opp. 97
Mullins.Wm. T 244
Mullins, W. J. . .215. 221, 301, 324, 338, 343, 422, 427, 575
Nicolai, E 126, 127, 132, 157, 232
Nicholson, J. Whitall 151, 421
Nitza, Fatty 443
Norris, George W\ no, 157, 206, 243, 270, 299, 313, 399, 454
Orr, Ulysses J 70
Qrr, Ulysses G 125
Ostertag, G 280
Oppenheim, Wm. Geo 551
Page, William M 522
Price, Henry Clay 29, 63, 108
Pillsbury, Annie 223
Preston, Jr., T. J 122, 123. 124, 241, 260, 265, 271
Pietzner, Carl 553
Prall, Virginia M 298, 442, 493, 539
Piatt, W. J 368, 409
Preston, Jr., T. J 467, 476
Puyo.c 41,489. 523
Raess, Henry F 429
Ramsdell, Leila R 36
Rau, Carl 348
Raphaels, J 468
Reading, H. G 16
Redfield, Roberts 554
Robinson. H. P 28
Russell, Margaret M 523
Scott, A. Wentworth 193^ 366
Schreck, V. G * q
Schaeffer, A. J 459, 55^
Schoeller, Ph. von 410
Sharp, Benjamin 468
Sheldon, S. L 558
Shufeldt, Dr. R. W. . . .1, 158. 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254
563. 564. 565. 566
Skeel, Adelaide 503, 509, 538
Sloan, Jr., T. O'Conor 502
Spencer, Ima 4^4
Staunton, C. H 409
Stearns, Guy ^03
Stein, L. L 347
Stieglitz, Alfred opposite 49, 529
Stirling, Edmund 458
Stokes, W. P [[ 321
Sprange, Walter 32,88, 89
Steams, Guy B J17
Stanger, E ^21
Sutcliffe, Frank M H2, 317, 340
Svenson, A ^ ^ _ 286
Swift, W. B ],..[.... 106
Taeschler Bros ^-q
Talbot, Fox 359" ^(^
Talmadge, David H 81, 212, 411, 559
Thompson, G. E 3^^
Thompson, John 444^ ^^2, 455
Tingley,Geo ^j^
Tollens. Hugo opposite 289
Toch. Max 79, 353.354,404, 475
Troth, Henry - j-
Turnbull, R. F 1
Tyler, M. Tuke '.".".'.[",[['. 447
VanBeek, H g
Vail. J. c ; :.:;:::;;: 468
Valleau, G. E ^^g
Van Buren, Amelia --5 - .
voik,c.E .■:.■.■.■::;;..: ^48
Vreeland. Wallace N ^
I
/
Digitized by
AUTHORS AND ARTISTS.— Continued.
Page
Wade, Elizabeth Flint 527
Waite, A. H 226, 227
Wande, A . .295, 317
Warwick, G. N 40
Warner, U. C loi
Watson. W. T 114
Watson, Eva Lawrence 519
Waterhouse, Major-General J 143
Weil. Mathilde 526
Werner, Alfred 35.212
W. H 209
White. C. H 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. 42, 57
Page
Whitmore. A. A 81
Wiggins. Mrs. Myra A 68, 225, 352
Williams," Arus S 180
Woolnough, J. J 120
Wolf, C 184, 257, 294
Wolfgang, W 331
Wolfbauer, Peter .• 555
Worsley-Benison. F. H opposite 337
W. P. L 514
Yarley, W. B 118
Yellott, Osborne 1 4Q, 5i» 53
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ILLUSTRATIONS.
V
Page
A Bit of the Water Front 58
A Bit of Old Franklin 221
A Break m the Clouds 481
A Bit of Nuremburg 522
A Courtier 263
A Canon Road 462
A Century Old 470
A Charcoal Effect 505
A Decorative Study 164
A French Canadian Village 116
A Fan 161
A Fisherman 410
A Fawn 82
•*After the Haul " 166
After the Storm 114, 141, 260
**A Humorous Moment 87
A Holbein Woman 516
A Helping Hand 140
A Japanese Fancy 186
A Kentucky Angelus 17
A Lombardy Ploughing Team 4
A Large Cowrie 249, 251
A Lonely Shore 117
Alfred Steiglitz 79
Alpine Imsk 243
Along the Blue Danube 537
A Mountaineer 509
A Mute Appeal , 494
A Mexican Beggar Girl 409
An Afternoon's Sport 183
An Autumn Scene 184
. An Old Virgfinian 219
Angling is like the virtue of Humility— it is innocent 551
Ancient Rome 536
An Old Salt 473
A Poster 135
A Peaceful Haven 344
A Picturesque Road 463
A Rainy Day 126
A Rainy Day in Spring 414
A Rustic Bridge 469
A Sioux Chief 8
A Solographer. 1900 418
A Sleepy Afternoon no
A Sioux Warrior * 258
A Stormy Night 353
'•A Story Without Words *' 372, 373
A Study Opposite i, 408
A Styrian Mill 535
A Solographer 418
A Summer Landscape 488
A Sprite 523
At the Bridge 275
At the Sea-Shore 500
Au Coin du Feu 41
Autumn 558
Page
A Winter's Night on the Embankment 6
A Woodland Scene 307
A Windy Sunset : 354
A Woodland Stream 432
Becalmed 554
Birds' Eggs 565
Blossoms 262
Blind Man's Buff 23
Bruges-Belgium 260
Cardinal D'Amboise 205
Cabby 278
Cape Town 89
Chancel and Lady Chapel of Lacock Church (to be
Restored) 400
Child with Oak-Fringe 519
Child's Head 325
*' Chill and Dun Falls on the Moor the Brief Novem- ber Day " 299
•• Children of the Ghetto " 475
Chinese Fishermen Unloading Boat 69
Cotton — vSteamship Landing 394
Country Cottage 315, 316
Congressional Library 468
Coming Home from the Harvest Field 511
Cooling Off 261
Congressional Library 265
Coming Home from Harvest Field 27
Cows at Pasture 157
Crypt at Lacock Abbey used by Talbot as a Dark Room 400
Daughters of Hon. Mrs. M 452
Daisies opposite 481
Doris and Her Mother 527
Dog's Head opposite 320
Dr. Shufeldt in His Study 563
Driving Home the Cows 12
Early Camera Picture 357, 359
Entrance to Spanish Fort 395
Eleven Shells 250
Eventide 423
Evening Prayers 442
Evening— Baie St. Michael 447
Evening Light 293
Evening in the Clematis Thicket 575
*' Evening on the Ocean " 354
Evening — Interior i8
Evening of Life 29
Fifth Avenue 338
Figure Study 214
Finis 576
Flower Study 248
Flower Girls in Paris 124
Digitized by
ILLUSTRATIONS.— Continued.
Vll
Page
FleuT-de-Lis 163
From Old Virginia 298
Frederick Warde as Macbeth 14
Gannet on Nest 382
Gossip opposite 289, 493
Group Portrait 229
Grazing 11
Hard Work 529
Haytime 306
Harvesting Buckwheat 13
Ha]c3'on Days 167
•• Homeward" 244
Holly 39
Illustration 67, 68, 76, 77, 81, 85. 160, opposite 193
277. 539» 553, 555, 559, 57i, 388, 389, 402, 413. 419. 424, 428, 434, 437, 445, 449» 455, 456, 457
In the Fold 515
In 1885 417
In the Woods 12
In the Lutschen-Thal 71
Indian Girl 78, 199
In Harvest Times 157
** I Thirst" U4
January on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston 26
Joseph Nic^phore Ni^pce 203
Joaquin Miller 25
*• Kathleen " 392
Kittiwakes and Young 383
Landing of the Boats opposite 529
Labor Earns Rest 212
Landscape. .101, 195, 204, 211, 247, 257, 276, 280, 295, 301, 304, 317, 321, 324' 326, 351, 371 Lacock Abbey— The Stable Yard, from an Early
Calotype 401
Late Afternoon in Winter 162
Leafless Woods 427
" Like Papa Does " 433
Life Study of a Child 564
Lightning. |^. 275
Lightning Flashes.^ 33
Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre 203
Looking down the Hill 74
Looking from the Bridge 74
Marshland 412, 450
Market Place, Mayence 122
•'Marie" 177
Miss Ben Yusuf 105
*' Mid Frost and Snow " 125
*• Mid Flowery Meads " 178
Misty Morning 343
Moonlight on the Pacific 286
Moonlight 435
Mother and Child 52
Mrs. G 526
Mrs. H— 20
My Friend Thomas 355
Myself 486
*' My Daughter " 387
Myself 22
Nance O'Neill 208, 209
Nature's Mirror 1 28
New Style Equipment in 1883 418
** Now was the Day Departing " 454
'* Now is the Year's Recessional " 322
Nude Study 561
Odalisque , 72
Old Mentone 497
Old St^'le Equipment 417
Old Mill 548
Old Canterbury 123
Old Dapple 28
On the Banks of the Charles River 404
On Lake Pontchartrain 396
On the Pacific Coast 31
On the Bronx 99
On the Stour 109
One of the Prophets 148
Oriel Window at Lacock Abbey 359
Osgoode Hall Library 131
Over the Hedge 316
Oyster Boats 391
Panorama of the Cascade Mountains 226, 227
Panel 194, 239
Peace 28
Peggy 12S
Pleinaire Portrait 220
*' Poetic Winter " 137
Pool at Night 6
Primavera 5
Picturesque California 461
Photog^phic Colossus of Rhodes 315
Portrait of Self in Sicilian Costume 540
Portrait of a Lady 444
Portrait Study 303, 361
Portrait of Miss Florence Kahn opposite 433
Portraits of Mrs. R. and Son opposite 145
Portraits 42, 169, 170, 171, 193
350, 483, 485, 487
Portrait Group 197
Preparing Dinner 451
Pretty Scene Spoiled by Foreground 315
** Prayer " 232
Returning from the Fields 471
*' Read It Again *' 279
"Recessional" opposite 97
Right Lateral View of the Skull of an American
Flamingo 566
*• Round the Dark Coimtry When the Sun is Set ". . 399
Rogers' Pass, Rocky Mountain . . 121
Roses 495
Roderick 474
Salute to the Dawn 523
Salambo 65
Digitized by
Vlll
ILLUSTRATIONS.— Continued.
Page
Scheveningen 241
Sea Fog 151
'* Shylock" opposite 241
Seascape opposite 337
Slumber 489
Snow Foreground Study opposite 49
*• Snowbound " 296
South African Natives 88
Soft Meek-eyed Indian Summer Veiled the Sky 313
•* Soft Blows the Wind that Breathes from Yonder
Sky" 270
Spring 130
Spring Pastoral 213
Spiral and Bivalve Shells 252
Strombus Bitaberculatus 253
Still Life Study .348, 397
Study 19, 196. 198, 202, 339 ,501, 547
Study of a Child... 222, 223, 224, 225, 230, 352, 379, 482
Still Eventide 1 ... 108
Study of a Girl's Head 527
Study of Head 356
Sunshine and Shadow 133
Surf Scenes 139
Sunset on the Tennessee 32
Sunset 40. 215, 438
Sub-Fossil Shell 254
Swampland 502
Talbot's Photographic Establishment at Reading. . . 357
Talbot's Printing Establishment at Reading 358
** Talking Shop '* 269
Temple of the Caryatides. Acropolis, Athens 439
Thoughts of Other Days 479
Thrashing Wheat, Le Puy 380
TheOldMill 136
The Willows 7
The Old Water Mill 9
The Man with the Plough 10
The Violinist 21
The Edge of the Woods 51
The Farm-House 53
The Village Shrine 55
The Readers 57
The Dance 59
The Gainsboro Hat 107
The Blacksmiths 118
The Pleasures of Gout 120
The Land of Dykes 123
The Smoker 127
The Peanut Field 154
The Night Before Christmas 189
The Truants 331
TheOldMill 530
The Kitten's Breakfast 533
The Flower Girl 534
The Philosopher 541
The Willows 543
The Pine Gate 567
The Last Glow 255
The Glow of Summer Noon 274
Pairc
The Bathers 294
The Dam of the Second Lake 307
The After-Supper Story Telling 310
The Blacksmith 311
The Street 491
The Citadel at Wuertzburg 498
The Anchorage 507
The Pine by the Barn 418
The Village Church Chorister 180
The Reader 458
The Diver 459
The Widow's Patch 465
The Haymakers , . . . 467
** The Captain " 469
The Last Glow 476
The Stream 477
The "Meadow" Cabin 365
The Grand Old ** Smoky " Mountains 365
The Herder's Family 365
The Monk of San Juan 368
The Smoker opposite 385
" The Small Trees " 305
The Oaks — Duelling Ground 393
The End of the Road 403
The Glow of the Setting Sun 421
** The Eye of Day" 318
•* The New Arrivals " 210
'* The End of a Windy Day " 206
*• The Snow-Clad Hills" « 172
'• The Way of Beauty " 174
•* The Pool in the Wood" 153
Three Eminent Critics 484
Tinnicum in Winter 512
Timidity 236
Toilers opposite 128
Toil Ill
Typical Yorkshire Landscape 314
Type of Creole N/egro 393
Twilight -.366
Under the Elm 261
Uncle Remus 492
•* Une Glaneuse " 35
Very Early Print 360
Viennese Landscape 549
Watching the Boatman 54
Where Troubles End 453
*• When the Flowing Tide Comes In " 478
Who Can Tell What a Baby Thinks 408
When Age Comes Stealing On 165
William Henry Fox Talbot 100, 145, 297
Winter Twilight 175
Winter 265, 271, 556
Young Owl 563
Young Pellican 382
Young White- Bellied Nuthatches 474
Zit-Kala ;. 267
Digitized by
INDEX
Paffe A
A Century of Applied Photography 529
A Critic Who Needs Criticising 505
A Chance Encounter 81
Action of Light on Silver Chloride 434
A Decorative Photographer, F. H. Day 102
A Few Hints on Home Portraiture 169
A Few Hints on Photographing Flowers 248
A Few Suggestions 302
A Friendly Criticism of the Genre Photographs at
Milwaukee 409
A Few Experience-Gotten Ideas 16
Agfa-Intensifier 485
A Hand Camera Abroad 122
A Home-Made Camera Stand at a Cost of Five Cents 398
Aiding Beginners in Photography 34
Almost a Tragedy 557
A Landscape Photograph, Poem 36
Along the Clove 305
A New Emulsion 79
An Autumn Walk in the Country with the Camera. 11
An Enquiry into the Early History of Photography. 64
97» 145, 202. 268, 297, 355, 400
Another View Regarding ** Chance" Photographs. 193
An Outing in the Tennessee Mountains 364
An Onyx Cave of the Ozarks 443
Apparatus for Preserving a Stock Solution of Pyro. 119
A Plea for the Artistic in Photography 215
A Powerful Developer 446
A Remedy for Blisters 171
A Successful Photographic Contest 124
A Story 4"
A Simple and Efficient Reducer 446
At-Home Portraiture 207
A Washing Box 216
B
Backed Plates 441
Bicycle Camera Carrier 272
Book-Illustrating Composition 329
Brooklyn Camera Club 375. 416
Bumt-in Photographs on Window Glasses and Glass Painting 24, 69, 100
C
Care of Silver Bath 108
Cheap Method of Making an Isochromatic Screen ... 117
Club Memoranda 282, 327
Clarence H. White 18
Copyright and the American Photographer 439
Cornwall and a Bit of Happiness 503
Coloring Bromide Prints 31
Comparative Developing Formulae 75
Page D
Demonstration in Gum-Bichromate 328
Density in •• Snap-Shot " Negatives 224
Editorial Notes 40, 90, 137, 188, 237, 283, 332, 376, 431
472, 520, 568 Exhibit of the New York Camera Club 312
Facts about the Combine 93
Floral Photography 15s
Formalin as a Preservative 117
Fog and Stains in Negatives 385
Fuzzy Photography a Fad 319
G Gertrude Kasebier 195
H
Hand-Camera Memoranda for Pictorial Purposes. . . 337
Hard Negatives 124
Harvard Camera Club 235, 375, 416, 472, 495
Henry Wenzel. Jr 328
How to Keep Sodium Sulphite 218
How to Gauge Light and Shade 446
In a Chinese Pishing Village with a Hand Camera. 54
Inferiority of Single Pictures to Stereographs 289
Intensifiers and Reducers 30
Intensification or Redevelopment 426
Intensification and Toleration 436
Important Announcement 529
Imogen, A New Developing Substance 537
Iron in Primary Batteries 143
J
Joseph T. Keiley 262
K Kromskop Color Photography ... 354
L
Lantern-Slide Making for Beginners 13, 70, 114, 179
218. 264, 308, 365. 39^. 469, 516, 542 Life Behind a Dealer's Counter 545
M
Mr. Button's Grand Shedoover 212
My Photographic B6te Noir 443
J
Digitized by
X
INDEX.— Continued.
Page
N
Negative Making 292
New Home and Enlarged Headquarters for the Old- est Photographic House in America 41 7
Novelties of the Season 233, 281
Notes on Flash- Light Photography 310
Notes and News. .45, 138, 238, 284, 333, 378, 476, 524, 570
O
Obituary .284
Obituary— Ben jamin French 92
** Old New Orleans " 390
On the Prevalence of ** Chance" Pictures at Exhi- bitions and Salons 106
Our Competitions 38, 134, 174. 222, 261
On the Scientific Photography of Shells 249
Our Monthly Digest 83, 126, 182, 225, 273, 321
369, 418, 448» 496, 546
Painters who have Influenced Me 426
Photogpraphic Man ufacturers* Association of America 9 1
Photographic Times Record 96. 144, 192, 240, 288
336, 384, 432, 480. 528
Photographs in Color 120
Photographs of Rare Fishes 158
Photographing Fortifications 200
Photographing Lightning 32, 166
Photographic Fancy Work. 244
Photographic Clubs; Their Formation apd Manage- ment J 254
Philadelphia Photographic Salon, 1900 285
Photographing Machine Parts 330
Porto Rican Mosaics, with Illustrations 346
Photographing ••Afoot" 433
Photography of the Stage 360
Process Work 47» 3^4
Practical Pin-hole Photography 49
Protective Resemblance in Moths i
Pyrocatechin Note 330
R
Recent Photographic Studies 563
Reducing and Intensifying 348
Regulations Regarding the Use of Cameras at the
Paris Exposition 236
Royal Photographic Society of London 285
Rubbing Down Negatives 209
*• Rusty" Visits the Exhibition 343
Rudolph Eickemeyer, Jr. . . 161
Pajje S
She Purloined the Cross 260
Silver Bath for Albumen Paper 29
Silvering Albumen Paper 63
Simple Manipulation of Developing Papers 404
Sound Sense and Solid Business 406
Some Thoughts on Lantern-Slide Making 463
Some Picturesque California Roads 460
Some Photographic Experiments on the Penetration
by Sunlight of the Tissues of the Body 508
Some- Random Notes on the Philadelphia Salon. ... 7
Strangers Now 48$
Stone Walls and Hedges 314
Stony Point 538
Suggestions on Pictorial Photography 109, 156
Suggestions on Pictorial Composition 80, 210
T
Testing the Speed of a Shutter 513
Toning with the Brush 468
To Blacken Diaphragms, etc 168
The Milwaukee Exhibit 160
The New Phosphate of Silver Paper 241
The Neck in Portraiture 317
The American Institute Photographic Salon 26
The Home Preparation of Orthochromatic Plates. . . 176
The Second Philadelphia Salon 4
The Last Year of the Century 37
The Editor's Table 44» 95. M3. »90. 239, 335. 381, 478
The Mechanical Half-Tone 47
The New York Camera Club 59
The Lantern Slide as an Illustrator 62
The Feet in Portraiture 112
The Legitimacy of Improving Photographic Work. J32 The Arm, the Mouth, and the Nose in Portraiture. 340
The Last Call 347
The Convention 377
The P. A. of A. Convention, Milwaukee, 1900 405
The Gum -Bichromate Procsss 446
The Use of Formalin 458
The Pictorial Movement 481
The Exhibition Season 487
The Photographic Salon, Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts 514
The International Congress of Photography at Paris 558
The Lecture that was Not Delivered 559
The Muller Half-Tone Hammer. 572
Twilight Exposures 353
U Unfriendly Criticism 459
W
Waterproof Labels 2t8
With Jane Colden at Colden Hill 5089
Winter Days 173
Digitized, by
j Vol. XXXII.
POUR nOti.ARS PER ANNUM.
JANUARY, 1900.
Nuu
SINGLE COPIB..
THE
Photocraphic
TinES
vS^
An-Illustrated Monthly-Aagazine devoted-to-the*
interests-of- aktisticsrscientific- # Photography
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THE*PHOTOGRAFHIC-TIA\ES-PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION*60*AiaK62*EASMlT^ST.*NEW*Y^
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THIS ISSUE COMMENCES A NEW VOLUME- t U75.^?_Jlll nRQTIPIII no^ ^p THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES gf;^|gg|,yQQg^^
s
Froniispiece— By jas. L. Breese— opposite. .*.. .
Protective Resemblance in Moths — By Dr. R W. Shufeldt— Illustrated
A Lombardy Ploughing Team — By J. Craig Anna Illustration
The Second Philadelphia Salon— Fy !•. Lcc ! g^ison— Illustratecl
Primavera— By Robert Demachy— Illustration m
A Winter's Night on the Embankment— By Paul Martin — Illustration «
Pool at Night— By Maurice Bucauet— Illustration.. .
Some Random Notes on the Philadelphia Salon— Bv the Editor
The Willows— By Mary Devens — Illustration
A Sioux Chief— By Joseph T. Keiley— Illustration . .
The Old Water Mill— By V. G. Sch reck— Illustra- tion
The Man with the Plow— By W. I. Lincoln Adams- Illustration
An [Autumn Walk in the Country with the Camera— * By W. I. Lincoln Adams— Illustrated
Grazing— By W. I, Lincoln Adams— Illustration
In the Woods— By W. I. Lincoln Adams— Illustra- tion
Driving Home the Cows— By W. I. Lincoln Adams- Illustration
Harvesting Buckwheat— By L. Crist Delmonico — Illustration
Lantern Slide Making for Beginners — By "Primrose Hill"
Frederick Warde as Macbeth— By Edgar Felloes — Illustration
A Few Experience-Gotten Ideas— by H. G. Read- ing— Illustrated
A Kentucky Angelus — By Louis H. Mulligan, M.D.— Illustration
Evening— Interior— By C. H. White— Illustration. .
Clarence H. White — By Sadakichi Hartmann— Illustrated
Study— By C. H. White -Illustration
Mrs. H— .— By C. H. White— Illustration. .
The Violinist— By C. H. White— Illustration
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7 7 8
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12 12 13
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20 21
Myself— By C. H. White— Illustration 22
Blind Mans BufiF-By C. H. White -Illustration 23
Burnt- In Photographs on Window Glasses and
Glass Painting — By P. C. Duchochois 24
Joaquin Miller — By Edgar Felloes — Illustration 25
January on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston — By
Chas. E. Maxwell— Illustration 26
The American Institute Photographic Salon — By
the Editor— Illustrated 26
Coming Home From Harvest Field— By Th. &
Oscar Hofmeister— Illustration 27
Old Dapple— By H. P. Robinson— Illustration 28
Peace— By Robert Demachy— Illustration. 28
Evening of Life— By Edgar G. Lee— Illustration.. . 29 Silver Bath for Albumen Paper — By Henry Clay
Price 29
Intensifiers and Reducers— By J. F. Carter, Jr. .... 30
Coloring Bromide Prints 31
On the Pacific Coast— By W. E. Cogswell— Illus- tration 31
Photographing Lightning — By Walter Sprange— Il- lustrated 32
Sunset on the Tennessee— By E. L. Mudge— Illus- tration opposite 32
Lightning Flashes— By J. H. Dunn— Illustration . .. 33 Aiding Beginners in Photography— By Frederic
Felix 34
•' Une Glaneuse"— By Alfred Werner — Illustration. 35 A Landscape Photograph, Poem— By Leila R.
Ramsdeil— Illustrated 36
The Last Year of the Century 37
Our Competitions 3^
Holly— Illustration 39
Editorial Notes 40
Sunset— By G. N. Warwick— Illustration 40
Au Coin du Feu— By C. Puyo — Illustration 41
Portrait— By C. H. White— Illustration 42
The Editor's Table 44
Notes and News 45
Process Work. 47
The Mechanical Half-Tone— By M. Lamont Brown 47
INSOLUBLE AND NONCURLINQ,
STRICTLY FIRSTCLASS IN EVERY RESPECT.
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A STUDY
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Vol. XXXII.
JANUARY, 1900,
PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE IN MOTHS.
BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, C.M.Z.S.
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O MUCH has been pub- lished upon the ques- tion of protective re- semblance in animals during the last half century that at the present time when one comes to describe spe- cial cases of it in any group of animal forms, it is quite unnecessary to devote a dozen or more paragraphs to an explanation of what is meant by the term. Every well-educated boy or girl in this country who has passed through the high school course of any one of our best institutions of that class are more or less informed upon the subject, and many of them have made personal observations in the field. As a law in nature (if it may be so considered) the entire matter has been very ex- tensively treated by Mr. Frank E. Beddard in his admirable treatise on " Animal Coloration," a book illustrated by several excellent colored plates presenting fine examples of protective mimicry. Among these, or on Plate II., there is a most charming and realistic picture of the well-known case of the Kallima butterfly, an insect discovered many years ago by Sir Alfred Russel Wallace in the East Indies. The upper surfaces of its superior and inferior wings are
gorgeously colored in orange, purple, and violet browns, while their nether surfaces are so marked as to exactly resemble one of the dead leaves of the underbrush or shrubbery amidst which its life is spent. Whefi flying about this butterfly immediately attracts the attention of the observer, but the instant it alights upon a twig and closes its wings, it so closely resembles a dead leaf, that it almost defies detection, al- though it may be not more than a few feet or even inches distant from the eyes of the person in search of it.
The moths and butterflies of the United States offer a great many examples of protective re- semblance of the greatest possible interest to the biologist and student of nature.
Our lovely Luna Moth (Actias /una) being of a pale green color with its hinder wings pro- longed into two long tails, is very difficult of detection, in so far as man is concerned, when at rest among the new and tender leaves of the hickory or other trees during the latter part of May or early in June. The pretty eye-spots, one on each lower wing near its center, perhaps increase the deception under these circum- stances, but how far this resemblance protects the Luna against the attacks of birds that are known to devour its kind, it is difficult to say.
Sometimes this pale-colored and large moth alights upon the blackish bark of certain trees, and in doing so it at once makes itself a very conspicuous object and one very readily to be
Copyright, 1899, by The Scovill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y., Post Office
Digitized by
Protective ^I^esemblance in Moths
[ January
R. IV. Shufeldt.
observed by a keen-sighted person a hundred or more feet away.
To illustrate this I present in Figure i the reproduction of a life-size photograph of a fine specimen of the Luna Moth I made during the summer of 1 89Q. After escaping from my hand, it flew about among the trees for several minutes, and first lit among the leaves of an old gum-tree where I detected it again with diffi- culty. Taking flight once more, it next alighted upon the dark bark of a black jack oak, where it continuously agitated its superior pair of wings, and while thus engaged, I photographed it. The entire incident afforded an excellent opportunity to appreciate the fact that our Luna Moth, owing to its form and green pale color, is under certain circumstances extremely difficult of detection by the human eye, while under others, as where it alights upon broad, dark surfaces, such backgrounds render the insect markedly conspicuous.
Others of our moths are so colored that they protectively mimic under nearly all circum- stances, the objects ordinarily surrounding them in nature, or upon which they frequently
light when resting. There are mottled-gray types which in the point of coloration so closely resemble the bark of certain trees that it is with the. utmost difficulty we discover them when they settle down upon the same. When they fly, however, their red and black under-wings flash out in strong contrast with their other- wise sombre surroundings.
A most interesting group of these insects is our Sphinx or Hawk moths. They are chiefly nocturnal, or at least crepuscular in habit, and in one of the large common forms of the At- lantic States {^Philampelus pandorus) the upper surfaces of the wings are beautifully shaded with dull olive green, pale pink, and buff, with small eye-spots, dots, wavy lines, and certain darker areas, while beneath the wings are of a general buffy fawn color, and the light gray body is shaded with olive green and marked to harmonize with the wings. One day last sum- mer (1889) a big female specimen of this species was found resting in the bright sun- shine upon the delicate bark of a young birch tree. The exquisite tints of the warm buff of the bark in a way blend with the colors dis-
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^Protective ^l^esembiance in Moths
/?. IV. Shu/eidt.
played on the part of the moth, while the pecu- liar pattern of its wings are in keeping with the up-curled portions of the epidermis of this our much beloved representative of our American forest trees. (Fig. 2). This picture from nature's scrap-book seemed to me to be fully worthy of
permanent preservation, so my faithful camera soon had it recorded upon a five by eight plate and the resulting reproduction is here offered to the many readers of The Photographic Times. Now if the colors could only have been given too, what an illustration we would have had indeed.
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"The Second Thitadetpfua Salon
[January
A LOMBARDV PLOUaHINQ TIAM.
y. Craig- An Man,
THE SECOND PHILADELPHIA SALON.
BY E. LEE FERGUSON.
THE second year of an exhibition of the nature of the Philadelphia Salon is likely to be a trying one, and the result this year is therefore in many respects gratifying. The first year showed evidence of inexperience and lack of knowledge of exhibitions of like character, and the management is to be com- mended for appreciating this and rectifying, in a conservative manner, the principal errors of the first attempt.
Of the exhibition itself much may be said in praise. As compared with the Salon of 1898 this year's exhibition appeared to show the ad- vantage of a jury composed of the better class of photographers solely over a mixed jury. This year the work ran much more evenly, and to this is largely due its superiority. In com- parison with 1898 there is, on the whole, a grat- ifying advance, but this was affected rather by the more rigid cutting out of poor work than by an advance in the standard of the better work. Much of the work shown is clearly below the proper measure of Salon pictures, and a study of individual exhibits shows in many cases a falling off from the previous year. Of course, this is often accounted for by the fact that for a first year one selects the best from the ac- cumulated work of several years.
The foreign work, as a class, was better than in 1898, and included more prominent names. But it is most unfortunate that the best of the foreign exhibitors appear to consider anything good enough for Philadelphia. After being specially invited to exhibit, because they are members of the Linked Ring, and because they have won other laurels, they owe it to them-
selves and to those who compliment them by extending the invitation to either send a repre- sentative exhibit or gracefully decline. Such names as Demachy, Craig Annan, Ralph W. Robinson and others, look well in the catalogue, but some of the things they saw fit to send be- littles them and the world-famed organization of which they are honored members. It were better to ignore the Europeans until such time as they shall be willing to treat our efforts seriously, than to pay all charges on their third rate work.
Among American workers there are some new names that deserve more consideration than the scope of this brief article, designed on general lines, will admit. While, as mentioned above, some individual exhibits did not well stand the test of comparison with the previous year, the work of Mary Devens showed an advance, and a grasp of the possibilities of gum bichromate which made one regret that the peerless De- machy sent some of the poor examples of his work. Mr. Keiley had an exhibit far in advance of his work of one year ago, showing a well defined purpose and a vigorous grasp of his medium. He deserves great credit for the ad- vanced position in which he has placed pictures made by local brush development of platinotype paper. It admits of great individuality, and is capable of a delightfully sketchy effect.
The exhibit made by Mr. Stieglitz was so varied in size and subject as to fail to carry at once the conviction that one looked upon the work of a master. One of his small prints probably did not receive the attention it mer- ited. It opens up a new field and is done by the use of mercury on such portions of a brush de-
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PRIMAVCRA.
Robert Demachy,
The Philadelphia Salon.
Digitized by
^The Second Philadelphia Salon*
[January
A WINTER • NIQHT ON THC CMSANKMENT.
The Philadelphia Salon,
veloped platinotype as may warrant a warmer tone, making, in effect, a two-color print. It re- quires skilful handling, but in the hands of competent persons will give charming effects. Mr. Stieglitz has done so much, and worked so unselfishly to advance photographic work in this country and secure for it some recognition among the arts, that it is gratifying to note that this latest method of picture making, which he may be said to have originated, has secured to him his third medal from the Royal
Photographic Society of Great Britain.
Mr. Day has a habit of start- ling the photographic world, and this year he apparently chose to adopt the matter of frames as the opportunity of carrying his gen- erally unique and artistic ideas beyond our previous ken. The writer is unable to follow this vagary of Mr. Day's with com- mendation. Few pictures without actual color will successfully stand the gilt which Mr. Day so lavishly used. Had I not been familiar with his work, I should have car- ried away merely a confused idea of his frames. They marred the beauty, rather than served as a fitting setting, for his genius. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Photographic Society of Philadelphia are to be congratulated on the result of the second year of their venture They are doing a good work for American photography, and it is to be regretted that the Europeans are not willing to lend a helping hand by sending their really good pictures, instead of fancying that the reputations they have honestly earned will cause us to cheerfully accept anything they may condescend to forward.
Paui Martin.
POOL AT NIGHT.
The Philadelphia Salon.
Maurice Bucquet.
Digitized by
1900]
Some Random Notes on the Philadelphia. Salon
SOME RANDOM NOTES ON THE PHIL- ADELPHIA SALON.
BY THE EDITOR.
"The purpose of the Salon is to exhibit that class of work only in which there is distinct evidence of in- dividual feeling and execution."
UNWITTINGLY the mind reverts to the motto of the Salon, and a " Well done, thou good and faithful ser- vant," breathed low, escapes one after the first cursory inspection of the exhibits on the walls. The jury of selection appear to have judged well — with a few trifling exceptions, — and in judging, to have used that fine discrimination which is the mark of those who know their art and love it. That we should all be entirely satisfied is, naturally, not to be expected, and, as said before, there are a few exceptions, which appear to have slid by the jury unseen and undetected, thereafter to appear upon the walls and gibe the passerby with their unseemly presence. 'T were unfair, however, to waste space on these here, when there is so much that is good, to pass upon.
The Salon this year, seems to fall naturally into two divisions, — the American and the
English, — the few pictures from other countries disappearing under force of numbers.
The English pictures present were nearly all there by invitation, an invitation which meant admittance without examination and approval by the jury. Now this is an exceedingly pretty compliment to the recipient. It tells him — or is evidently meant to — that his works are beyond criticism and that he will do honor by the pres- ence of his pictures. But when I am invited to show myself and honor others by my presence, I put not on my worst clothes, nay, not even my second best, but don my prettiest tie and my least-worn shoes. But not so, in the case of these invited guests. True, they endeavored to show us how big they are — by the size of their pictures,— giving a decorative effect at least— but they did not show us how strong they are — in art. A half carat diamond is more valuable than a ton of iron, but it is infinitely smaller. And there were enlargements there from the ** other side" (I cannot call them pictures) which could almost be measured by the yard and which would not have been looked at twice by the jury, had they had to stand ex- amination. And then the monotony. A scene of bracken and trees is beautiful when well com-
TNC WILLOWS.
TAe Philadelphia Salon,
Mary Dtvens.
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8
Some Random Notes on the Philajdelphia Salon
[January
posed, but why three similar scenes, all large, and all from the same author ?
Regardless of all this, however, there was some really splendid work from the British members of the Linked Ring. Craig Annan's " Lombardy Ploughing Team " in a rich red sepia, has a quality of life that many an artist of the brush strives after and never attains. I noticed a ** sold " ticket in the comer of the frame, surely a sign of apprecia- tion. I did not like the same artist's "The Church or the World," or, as it was formerly entitled, *• Elea- nore." It has a stagey effect, and the girl on the palfrey (is it a palfrey ?) is too palpably posing before the lens. Of Harold. Baker's work we evi- dently do not see the best, al- t hough hi s " Gray Avon's Peace " has the rare at mos- pheric effect and softness that seems so diffi- cult of attain- ment over here.
The portrait work of William Crooke is always admirable, but it seems to me that he is hardly fulfilling the aim of photography when he so closely imi- tates steel engravings in his pictures, even to the scrolling of the title, etc., and the some- what faded tone, as to deceive us into the belief that they are old engravings and not photo- graphs. Photography needs not to borrow effects from its sister arts. Its own beauties and possibilities are all-sufficient, and Mr. Crooke is too much a master of lens and
A aioux cHicr.
plate to need recourse to such imitation. I broke the tenth commandment when I got to A. Horsley Hinton's Headland, which, to me, was one of the best works shown in the English section. A faint conception of the beauty of this panel can be obtained from the reproduc- tion in these pages. The original shown was about thirty inches high, I should judge, and was splendidly decorative.
The American work was cer- tainly the best that has yet been shown in any public exhi- bition, and did not stand one whit behind the best E n gl i s h work on the walls. This speaks volumes for the great strides our pho- tographers are making, and I predict that it will not be long before the mem- b e r s of the Linked Ring will send only their best work to be shown over here, and will not send it o n invitation, either, but will have to submit to a jury like the rank and file. Of course, there were some poor pictures present, pictures lacking in judg- ment, in harmony of light values, in purpose, but the general average was excellent.
Boston showed up well with F. Holland Day, Mrs Sears, Mrs. Russell, Mary Devens, and Francis Watts Lee. Day's work is too well known to need comment here. Miss Devens was represented by some gum -bichromate studies, which showed that she has thoroughly mastered the technique of this artistic process.
/ose/>h T. Keiley.
The Philadelphia Salon.
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Some Random Notes on the Phitddetphia Salon
" The Willows " is reproduced in these pages. If the reader will hold the book away at arm's length, a better idea can be obtained of the original. Mrs. Sears turns her attention almost entirely to portraiture. A year or two back this artist was badly addicted to diffusion of focus, going even to extreme lengths, but 1 was glad to note that her work shows now no sign of that freakishness May I suggest to Mrs. Sears that for the better recog- nition of her work, a suit- able title be chosen for each picture ; the title "portrait" becomes mo- notonous, being a shade worse than " Study." Mr. Lee's work shows virility. He is a disciple of the new school, but while not having a distinctive style of his own, he is not a slavish imitator. I can hardly pass over Boston without mentioning six pictures by Herbert Hess. These are sylvan views with boys, in statu na- iurce^ in the foregrounds. Mythology is undoubt- edly the motifs but while Mr. Hess has had a good idea in his head, he lacks, at present, the power to give a truthful rendering. The boys are poor, thin specimens of humanity, and are all too conscious, and the composition is meaningless. The author needs to study anatomy and posing a little more before attempting this ambitious kind of work.
"The Manger," by Gertrude Kasebier, prob- ably stood out as the most
beautiful piece of work in the whole Salon. There is a softness and religious atmosphere about it, a simplicity, and truthfulness which makes one return time and again to this picture with an ever increasing admiration of the power of this artist, as Mrs. Kasebier undoubtedly is.
I was delighted with Mr. Stieglitz' "Vig- nette in Platinum." Here he shows his new
THE OLD WATCR-MILL. Copyright, i8qq. V. G. Schreck.
method of obtaining varying tones by local de- velopment, and the result is very dainty indeed. Of the Philadelphia photographers neither Miss Eva Watson nor Miss Weil were represented by their best efforts. Both are, I think, capable of stronger work. Miss Watson's pictures have too much of a poster effect to be pleasing as photographs. Two of Allan Drew Cook's pic- tures were frankly la- belled " posters," and were really clever, though scarcely things of beauty. I must devote a few words to the pictures from the French school, which was worthily if not ex- tensively represented. Demachy's work is that of a pastm aster, and en- tirely beyond my poor judgment. Readers can judge of his art from the pages of the Times, but can hardly realize their indescribable charm. " The Team," by L. Dar- donville, and " Canal in Venice," by Andr^ Tou- tain. are both clever, the action of the horses in the former being espe- cially good. Rene Le Begue, whose work has been frequently shown in these pages, had but one picture hung, while Mau- rice Bremard and Maurice Bucquet made up the bal- ance of the French pic- tures, which gave an ex- cellent impression, being entirely free from any strain of freakishness or striving after false effects. The Philadelphia Salon for 1899 should not be passed by without praise to those in charge of the exhibition, and to those responsible for the hanging of the pic- tures. There was little crowding on the walls, and the arrangement was good.
Our thanks are due to the managers of the Salon both for their courteous treatment and for the cuts of the pictures exhibited, repro- duced in this number.
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c4n c4utamn Walk in the Country
II
AN AUTUMN WALK IN THE COUNTRY WITH THE CAMERA.
BY W. I. LIN'COLN ADAMS. With lUustrations by the Author.
W. I. L, A.
CM E R S O N has some- where said, in effect, in ^ reply to one complain- ing that there was nothing which seemed worth doing, "to take "" a walk ! " We have certainly realized the truth of the sayings of the same genial philosopher : " That work is ever more pleasant to the imagi- nation which is not now required," and " How wistfully, when we have promised to attend the working committee, we look at the distant hills and their seductions." In the pleasant month
of October, when all the harvests have been
gathered, there are sometimes occasions when
it is not necessary for the farmer "to attend
the working committee," and
when he can therefore yield
to the seductions of the dis- tant hills. At such times the
camera is taken from its shelf,
and an exhilarating walk over
the brilliant fields and hills
and through the mellow au- tumnal woods is enjoyed. " We should go forth on the
shortest walk," says Thoreau;
"perchance, in the spirit of
undying adventure, never to
return, — prepared to send
back our embalmed hearts
only as relics to our desolate
kingdoms. If you are ready
to leave father and mother,
and brother and sister, and
wife and child and friends,
and never see them again, —
if you have paid your debts,
and made your will, and set- tled all your affairs and are a
free man, then you are ready
for a walk." Only in the autumn can the farmer approximate this standard of freedom, and con- sequently enjoy to the fullest a random tramp with the congenial camera.
And what a succession of pictures present themselves as we ramble on. First, are the long, smooth stretches of " mow fields," reaching far up the hillside, on which the picturesque cattle are comfortably grazing on the rich " fall feed." This makes the most effective fore- ground for the hills and woods beyond, a soft autumn sky completing the picture above. And what a keen pleasure it is to walk over the smooth, springing sward in the brisk, bracing air of a northern October !
Then we come to the pasture itself on the other slope of the hill, and follow the winding cow-paths to the brook and the woods beyond it. The cattle have made excellent trails through the woodlands, also, along which we can walk unimpeded.
Here we find always so much to interest. Perhaps it is a flock of young partridges which we startle up and which instantly scatter in all directions Possibly a stray fox darts across
W. I. Lincoln Adams,
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c4n c4utumn Walk in the Country
[January
IN THC WOODS.
our path, or a rabbit, and we can always wit- ness the brisk antics of pert little chipmunks or the red and flying squirrels. The tapping of the woodpecker on hollow trunks resounds loudly through forest aisles ; ripened nuts are dropping on the dead leaves at our feet ; the soothing wind sways gently the topmost branches overhead, and tenderly brushes the coloring leaves to their winter resting-place be- low. It is a time to be silent and listen. Nature will speak to the rev- erent soul.
Wandering through the woods brings us at length to a clearing where timber has been cut. A further stretch of woodland takes us to a more distant hill, from which a picturesque lit- tle village of Northern New England can be seen, as the eagle sees it from the crags, nestling among the foot-hills be- low, along the winding river's course.
We return by the coun-
country highway in the waning light of the autumn after- noon, and our shad- ows growing long on the road at our backs as the sun settles down before us in the west, we are re- minded, by the gold- en light, of that me- morable walk, not unlike our own, which is described by Thoreau in his classic essay on walk- ing. "I was walking in a meadow," he writes, " the source of a small brook, when the sun at last, just before setting, after a cold gray day, reached a clear strat- um in the horizon, and the softest, brightest morning sunlight fell on the dry grass and on the stems of the trees in the opposite horizon, and on the leaves of tfie shrub-oaks on the hillside, while our shadows stretched long over the meadow east- ward, as if we were the only motes in its beam. ♦ * * We walked in so pure and bright a light gilding the withered grass and
ly. l. Lincoln Adams.
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DRIVING HOMC THC COWS.
IV. /. Lincoln Adams.
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1900]
Lantern Slide Making for Beginners
13
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mauvkstinq bucrwmcat.
leaves, so softly and serenely bright, I thought I had never bathed in such a golden flood, with- out a ripple or a murmur to it. The west side of every wood and rising ground gleamed like the boundary of Elysium, and the sun on our backs seemed like a gentle herdsman driving us home at evening."
And so we return to our home, in the twi- light, and, as we draw near, the cows are seen wending their lazy way bam wards, driven from the pasture, with many shouts and gestures, by the two small farmers who are shown in our picture.
LANTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGINNERS*
BY **PRIMROSE HILL."
I —INTRODUCTORY.
THE following chapters are primarily designed ' for those photographers who have had little or no experience in making lantern slides. At the same time, it is hoped that the ex- perienced worker may here and there pick up a hint which will help him to still further improve upon his past productions.
L. Crist Delmonico.
We shall presume that the reader knows noth- ing whatever about making lanterfi slides ; but that he has already several small negatives, and would like to try his hand at making a few lan- tern slides.
There are many photographers who are a little shy about asking questions, for fear of being laughed at for their ignorance. There are others who have no friend at hand to ask. Therefore, in order that we may be of special use to readers of this kind, we propose going into all details, and therefore must ask those who already know all these things to be a little pa- tient, in memory of the time when they them- selves were quite beginners.
(i) The lantern picture on the screen is a shadow picture. Make this point clear in your mind from the first, because when we come to talk about density and detail, etc., all will de- pend on this point being grasped . If in one hand we hold a candle, and hold up the other hand between the candle flame and the wall, we get a shadow picture of our hand. This is a picture in strong light and strong dark only. But suppose for a moment that our several fingers were more or less transparent in differ- ent degrees. Then we should not get such dark
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FREDERICK WARDE AS MACBETH.
Ed^ar Ftlloes.
Photographic Times Competition. Silver Medal,
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Lantern Slide Silaking for Beginners
15
shadows, for some light would pass through. Now, instead of the hand, suppose we had a photographic print on very transparent paper or on glass, we should get an enlarged edition of this on the wall. Again, if in place of the candle we have a much stronger light of some kind, and if between the wall and the print we put a magnifying lens, we shall get the same state of affairs, except that now our picture is upside down on the wall. But this can be set right by inverting the picture . Thus we have the essentials of a lantern picture, viz., a strong light, a transparent positive print, a lens, and a screen for receiving the enlarged picture.
(2) The standard size of a lantern slide in this country is 3^ by 4 in. The reason why a standard size is chosen is that any slide will fit any " carrier " or slide holder of standard size. This, of course, is a matter of very great general convenience.
(3) An ordinary slide usually consists of the following parts : (a) The positive transparent picture on a glass 3^ by 4 in. (b) A second piece of clear glass of the same size, known as the ** cover glass,'' or protecting glass, (c) These two are bound together by a narrow strip of paper, tape, metal, etc., just overlapping their edges. These so-called " binders " are usually of paper, and extend about ^ in. over the face of each glass, [d) The ** matt'' This is a piece of opaque paper (often black), and measures outside 2,% by 4 in , /. ^., the same size as the plate In this opaque paper is cut an *' opening " of any desired size or shape. Thus we can block out, with this matt, portions of the picture, and the size and proportions of the picture seen through the ** opening " are under control of our choice and taste.
(4) Choice of Process. — The following pho- tographic processes for making slides may be mentioned, viz., collodion, albumen, carbon, and gelatine. For each of them much may be said. But the beginner is, without hesitation, advised to start with the gelatine process, and for the following reasons :
{a) Prepared plates of excellent quality are issued by numerous plate-making firms.
(b) The gelatine process is convenient, easy, and cleanly to work.
{c) The results are (or should be) all that one can desire.
{d) The process is economical of time and money.
(5) Choice of Method. — We have practically two methods of working open to us. (a) First,
we may lay a sensitive prepared plate film to film in contact with our negative, and expose to a source of light, develop, and get a contact print of the same size as the original negative. {b) Secondly, we may set up our negative in a suitable frame, illuminate it from behind, point our camera to it, and with a lantern plate in the dark slide proceed as though taking a negative. The result will be a positive from the negative, which may be same size, or enlarged or reduced as the case may be. For both these methods something may be said.
(a) Contact Method. — Our lantern is 3^' by 4 in., and we cannot stretch this piece of glass so as to cover a negative which is 4 by 5 in. Consequently our lantern slides cannot give us the whole of the subject included on the 4 by 5 negative. Much less can we make the lantern plate give us more than a small- part of a large size negative. But if it so happens that we only want to use any part not exceeding 3 in. either way of our negative, then this disadvantage is not felt. On the other hand, this contact method is certainly easier than the second (or lens) method. It is very suitable for evening work, /. r., exposing by artificial light — lamp, gas, or magnesium ribbon.
(b) The second (or lens) method, necessitating the use of a lens, is often spoken of as ** through the camera/* Unless we can employ daylight, this plan presents certain difficulties as regards illuminating the negative evenly, and with a light so strong that the time of exposure does not become inconveniently long. This can, however, be done in various ways which will be subsequently described. The obvious advantage of this method is that we can make our lantern picture include the whole or any part of a negative of any size.
However, in order to simplify matters as much as possible, we shall assume that we make our first few slides by contact from quarter-plate negatives.
(6) Apparatus Required. — Before commenc- ing any photographic operation we should always see that we have at hand all the various things we need. In this case we shall require :
(i.) One or more 4 by 5 or 3/-^ by 4^ nega- tives. For our first few trials it will be well to select a landscape or seascape or architectural subject rather than a portrait. The negative should be a fairly bright one, free from fog or stain, and showing a good range of gradation from nearly clear glass in the shadows, to good density in the highest lights.
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A Few Experience-Gotten Ideas
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(ii.) A printing frame and a piece of smooth black cloth (or velvet) measuring 4^ by 3^ in.
(iii.) A dusting brush. One of camel's hair of the broad, flat varnish brush kind and about ij4 or 2 in. wide will be convenient. If this cannot be had, a piece of clean velvet folded and folded again, soft side out, can be made to serve ; but a brush is much the best.
(iv.) Light for exposing. This must depend upon the convenience of the reader. We may use oil or paraffin lamp, gas flame, or magnesium ribbon.
(v.) Box of prepared lantern plates^ i, r., glass coated with gelatino-bromide emulsion. They are sold in boxes of one dozen plates, and the usual price is one shilling. It would be, perhaps, undesirable to mention any maker's name, lest the reader should think those not mentioned were not worthy. The reader is hardly likely to go far wrong if he takes the produce of any of the well-known plate-makmg firms. Some of these supply two kinds of lan- tern plates, viz., rapid^ suitable for the lens method, and giving black and white slides; slow^ suitable for contact method, and giving black or warm-colored results according to ex- posure and development. The beginner is ad- vised to select a slow rather than a rapid plate for first experiments. — Amateur Photographer. {To be continued.)
DEVELOPMENT in one combined developing and fixing solution, with the wonderful reducing agent Pyrocatechin, is now the one pro- gressive step of amateur photog- raphy, and while the formula is well known, and many amateurs compound their own solution, there are some who prefer to get the combined developer ready prepared, and for the conveni. ence of such amateurs, the manufacturers of Pyrocatechin have put on the market a ready prepared combined solution, under the name of Elconal F, which is put up in bottles of three different sizes, viz.:
100 c. c. (33^ oz.) 85
200 c. c. (7 oz.) 1.50
500 c. c. (i7j^ oz.) 2.50
These solutions are in a very highly concen- trated form and the proportion is 4 parts of solution to 30 parts of water. It is a curious chemical and physical fact that this combined developing and fixing solution of Pyrocatechin is applicable to the development of negatives
of different exposures, for the hyposulphite of soda in each different range of exposure does not begin to fix until the negative is fully de- veloped, and if several negatives of different exposures are placed together in the same solu- tion the process of fixing in each negative com- mences at different points in the development, according to the time of exposure given each negative. The Elconal F is supplied by the sole American agents, the Scovill & Adams Co. of New York, 60 and 62 East Eleventh Street, New York.
A FEW EXPERIENCE-GOTTEN IDEAS.
BY H. G. READING.
MAKING pictures on Dekko and Velox pa- pers at night by Wels- bach light, the long printing required by some negatives having made my arms tired holding the frame up to the burner, I began to look around for an easier method, and I hit on this idea. I took the bottom and one end of a cigar box, leaving them nailed together, forming an "L" shaped shelf. Near the top of the longer part two small holes were cut, through which a string is passed to tie it to the upright pipe of the chandelier, the lower part resting on the hor- izontal arm of the fixture. On this shelf the frame is placed on its edge for the required time of printing. When through, it is easily removed by untying the strings, if its remaining is ob- jected to by the fe- male members of the household.
I used to have trouble in keeping my Velox developer, until I began put- ting it in very*
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A RCNTUCKY ANQCLU8.
Louis H. Mulligan^ M. D.
small bottles. Now I get homoeopathic vials which I fill quite full, cork, dip the ends in par- affin, and keep them in a cool place, and the de- veloper is as nice after a year as when freshly made. A block bored full of holes just large enough to admit the bottles serves as a con- venient place to keep them together.
A friend of mine recently told me that he was henceforth going to label every bottle, and never use the contents of another without care- fully examining it. He had just recovered from the shock occasioned by pouring out a dollar sized bottle full of platinum toning so- lution in mistake for old pyro developer. It re- called to my mind the time when I mistakenly poured out my concentrated pyro stock instead of old developer on a well timed negative. The effect was interesting if not enjoyable.
An apron, preferably of oil-cloth or rubber, might have saved me several pairs of trousers, spoiled by stains resulting from spilled de- velopers and kindred solutions, while working in the dark room during the earlier years of my experience-getting.
When I make flash-light exposures, I usually procure an empty flour sack of as large size as possible, and have a friend hold it in such a
position that the open end will receive the charge of burnt powder, smudge and smoke blown from the lamp, when it may be carried out of the room and allowed to escape in the air. Great care must be exercised by the party holding the sack that the hands are in such a position that they will not be scorched by the flash of flame, for experience has also taught me that the flame of a flash-lamp is very, very hot. Some time ago while rambling across the fields and through the woodland, with my eyes open for a beautiful little bit of landscape to be returned for later with my camera, I felt the need of something better than the hands held before the face to help outline the boundaries of the scene, so that it would appear about the same in its proportions as a picture of it. For the purpose I took a piece of black cardboard about 4x5 inches, and cut a rectangular hole in the center of it about 2x3 inches. By shutting one eye and looking through this hole, one can determine at a glance just about how a photo- graph of the scene would look, and whether it is artistic enough in its composition to make a pleasing picture, without bothering to set up the camera each time. It costs nothing to make, but is worth much to the serious worker.
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Clarence R White
[ January
EVCNINQ— INTERIOR
C f/. IVhite.
CLARENCE R WHITE.
BY SADAKICHI HARTMANN.
CLARENCE F. WHITE, of Newark, Ohio, sprang" into being as an artist with the rapidity of a meteor rush- ing through space. I do not speak of the fashionable vogue which may suddenly illuminate the efforts of a man, long watched by friends and fellow-practition- ers. This he could only gain if he would come to New York, and it would in no way concern the true merit of his work. Mr. White matured
very quickly if you look at the many years it took to ripen Demachy or Craig Annan, for instance. It is only three or four years ago that Mr. White asserted himself in the photo- graphic world, and now, thanks to a peculiar rapidity of growth, he suddenly finds himself at the top to share the honors with men who have labored twice and three times as long and have yet remained comparatively incomplete. Mr. White is as strong an individuality as I
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C. H. IVhite,
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Clurence R White
[ January
have met among American photographers. True enough his powers are more limited than those of others ; he lacks versatility and is only a specialist, if you like; but nevertheless he is a well-rounded individuality. What he does is consistent, often beautiful, and entirely inde- pendent of other photo, graphic work, for -even if he takes his matter at secondhand from those he venerates, he under- stands how to imbue it with a spirit of his own. The range of his sub- jects is very limited, — satis6ed largely with one female model, who, al- though not beautiful, has a remarkable talent for posing, he has suc- ceeded in making a series of genre studies, which, despite their similarity and uniform- ity of method, claim our attention at the first glance. At the beginning one merely notes a solemn, low- toned key of relative values, a certain weird fancifulness of subject, and a breadth of hand- ling, at times delicious, but is still uncertain as to what produces the general sense of unity and singleness of their impression. By study- ing what they mean to represent, one gradually begins to understand that this man's art is a product of the environ- ment in which he lives. I have never been in Newark, Ohio, but I pre- sume that is one of those provincial little towns ■""■• **~ of the West with about 16,000 or 18,000 inhabitants, who probably live quite comfort- ably— perhaps even more so than the average New Yorker— but who know but little of the attractions and luxuries of a great city. Now imagine a] man of artistic instincts, placed in
such surroundings. There are no opportunities for studying ; all the ordinary thoroughfares for pursuing art are out of his reach ; he cannot devote himself to it in spare hours, as he has to follow a mercenary profession and consequently lead a routine life. All he sees of the world's art is in stray magazines — and surely not always of the best — which come to the little town. A man in such a position has to rely largely upon himself, and the obser- vation of that which sur- rounds him in daily life. He will trust to the report of his own eyes and pick out from his surroundings that which seems to him practical and worthy of artistic treatment. This is ex- actly what Mr. White has done.
In his prints one can read as in an open book . Those old-fashioned in- teriors taken against the light of big windows, those old staircases, doors, and porches, the quaintly patterned gowns ofthe women who people these scenes, all tell their story. There is something so idyllic in his pictures, some- thing so simple and sub- tle that the impression they make upon one is not unlike the peculiar fascination which Miss Wilkins' New England stories have for one. It is a poetry which comes naturally, and yet at times can be romantic (as in his Chest studies) or mystical (as in his the delightful composi- As long as he
C. H. White.
" Spring " panel or tion entitled "The Bubble"), is true to himself he succeeds, but as soon as he attempts to set forth his idea with the elo- quence of other masters, he fails. He has no skill in compilation, as Mr. Eugene has, for
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Garence R White
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instance, and is unable to cloak his sentiments in the nervous elegance of Boldini, for instance. He is even incapable of depicting ladies of fashion in magnificent robes or dazzling evening toilette, which is astonishing, as he succeeds marvelously well as long as his sitters wear ordinary tailor-made gowns, as, for instance, his " Mrs. H." and his " Lady in Black," which I consider among his best work. He seems to have no eye for deco- rative magnificence, or the management of gorgeous accessories* which take a completer training than was his share to enjoy. His strength lies rather in a vital love of reality, sub- dued only as far as the imagination of a simple- minded man can accom- plish it. Simple sub- jects, like " The Read- ers," he can handle to perfection.
Technically, Mr. White's work belongs to the most perfect we have seen in recent years ; it is satisfactory in all de- tails, even the mount- ing and framing, done by himself, shows good taste and judgment. The ensemble of his exhibi- tion was very harmon- ious ; there was nothing to offend the eye, which is more than I can say of most exhibitions ; everything was so quiet and subdued that one almost overlooked a cer- tain monotony of ap- pearance, which, with inferior work, would have been simply intolerable.
This shortcoming is very easily explained, for as masterly as he is in the observation and ex- pression of relative value, so deficient he is in the suggestion of color. That is his weak spot. The filmy, suggestive, and mysterious manner
THE VIOLINIST.
in which he handles his interiors allows of no strong contrasts — the general tone would be spoiled, and with it the sentiment. He regards colors as relating to the prevailing cote of the whole field of vision rather than to each other, and thus he invariably obtains an effective scale of relative importance in tone. He has learned to reveal things with the mystery of a true chiaroscura, but he only masters her in her most modest moods, and wisely avoids all violent effects. He probably knows that he would fail in attempting at- mospheric effects of a more joyous nature than those which he likes to depict over and over again. Superb is at times the way in which he subordinates all unne- cessary details to a mass of black. His blacks, however, are not as rich and deep as Mr. Day's, which, although they never seem mere wilful emptiness, fail to ex- press depth of space.
A certain frugality is the keynote of Mr. White's work. He is not brimful of ideas like some men; he has only a few, and his resources for expressing them are very limited, but what he can give, he gives whole-souled, in a sin- cere and conscientious manner. And these two qualities should not be undervalued if they are combined with genuine inborn talent. They have made a great sculp- tor of Mr. St. Gaudens, and although Mr. White's abilities can in no way be compared to those of oar greatest sculptor, they might in time ripen Mr. White's individuality, so that it will bear still more beautiful fruit. As we know him at present he is one of the
C. H. White.
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aarence F, White
\ January
very best exponents of figure-photography we have, a man who always aims at completeness, at an extremely high finish, at beauty of senti- ment handled so reverently that it becomes part of the imagination, an accomplishment still very rare in modern photography.
The mild, melancholy mood which we can trace in all his prints, and which is achieved with such frugal means is to me the most interesting notejof hisr work, I al- ways believed that the most individual repre- sentatives of American art would come from the West. In the Eastern large cities we are too much influenced by European art, to de- velop strong self-reliant individualities, who, after once having en- tered upon a path, pur- sue it to the end. We Easterners are apt to shift from one ideal to another; we know too much and yet scarcely know our own trend of mind, suggestions come too easily to us, and we find it difficult to con- centrate upon one aim.
My final test of an artist's work is to con- nYscir.
sider what of it I would
care to hang up on the walls of my own home, the larger the number is, the more favorable becomes my estimate of the artist; for a man who has seen as much as I have, can only live with pictures that possess intrinsic value Let me applythis test toMr. White's photographic prints.
His "Spring" I consider one of the master-
pieces of American photography; it belongs to my framed collection of photographic prints, in which every man is only represented by two or three prints. Also " The Bubble," *' The Lady in Black " and several of his interiors and stand- ing figures like " The Violinist " would do honor to any wall. I am doubtful about his " Old Chest Studies." They have been accused of being theatrical. I do not agree there ; they have sprung from gen- uine feeling, and show how far Mr. White's im- agination may venture successfully. They are like scenes illustrating some strange story of people of bygone days moved by some heart- rending sorrow or fever- ish desire. A lurid light hovers over these quaintly draped women who bend over an old chest and clasp in their pale hands some relic, a sword or a chain, with the ardor of some deep emotion called up from the graves of the past. They have a great fascination for me, and yet I do not believe they would remain longer than two weeks on my wall. A story has to be marvelously well told to be permissible in pictorial art, and the " Old Chest Studies " do not reach, despite their merits, that state of per- fection; they are, after all, only studies.
But they, like two-thirds of his exhibited prints, should find a place in the portfolio of every collector of artistic photographs.
C. H. White.
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^BamUln Photographs
[Januarv
BURNT-IN PHOTOGRAPHS ON WIN- DOW GLASSES AND GLASS PAINTING.
HY P. C. DUCHOCHOIS.
ANY of the difficulties in painting on glass are no doubt avoided by hav- ing recourse to photog- raphy. However, as it occurs that additions should be made on the parts not prepared, and that the smooth surface of the glass is not favor- able for spreading the color, the second stroke of the brush often remov^ing the color first laid on. In this case one may have recourse to an artifice consisting to paint on glasses slightly grounded by emery or, better, by hydrofluoric acid white.
No doubt that among the readers of this article, there are some amateurs who will com- pose and paint their cartoons. They should not try to imitate oil paintings, but bear in mind that if the two arts have evident points of contact, they have also many others which are quite dissimilar. They are, in the first place, the processes of execution and, also, the differ- ent conditions in which their effects take their origin. Thus: a painting on a glass window, on account of the distance usually separating it from the spectator, must be treated in a special manner; it excludes the delicate details which, if they make a great effect on an opaque surface, disappear entirely in the transparency of glass even when, which often happens, the fire has not altered or destroyed them. Lastly if one wishes to make a painting on glass with the harmony of an oil painting, it would be neces- sary to sacrifice much of the transparency and brightness of the colors, which are the most beautiful characters of the reproductions of the art in question.
There is a fact which observation has made unquestionable to the least experienced artist, and which guides one in the manner of treating a painting, it is that in a picture the half tints graduated with delicately blended shades, when seen from a certain distance are confused into an equal tint and everywhere of the same value; a highly finished painting decorating the window of a church for example, and therefore seen from a great distance, not only loses the fineness of the shading, but is also obscured by the con- fusion of the details and thus appears heavy, cold, and harsh. It is on the observation of this
fact that are based the rules of all the decorative arts.
As it has been said before, the amateur, in order to avoid the lead work, may paint on a panel of clear glass in imitating the lead divisions, so useful to prevent the confusion of the colors juxtaposited. But by this manner one cannot expect to obtain the brilliant and gor- geous effects produced by stained glass em- ployed to form the local colors. The result will be wanting in transparency and without that richness of color which is so necessary for effect in painted windows.
The lead work is not on the whole so objection- able for the amateur. It can be done at little cost by the glazier if one divide the whole in quarries (square glasses) as it has often been done by the artists of the XIV. and XV. centuries.* This is the most simple manner, and however, quite effective. Moreover, in the cen- ter, a portrait, for example, photographed from nature can be placed, reserving the quarries for the ornaments, flowers, foliages, geometrical designs, meanders, arabesques, etc.
As to the colors of the stained glasses and their arrangement, one should select the primary colors red, yellow, blue, and balance them by their complimentaries — green, purple, orange, and vice versa.
The blue glass subdues much light. For this reason it should not be deep. Balanced by orange and alternated by ruby in the lead work it produces a brilliant effect.
The yellow glass transmits more light than any other. It should, therefore, be diapered, otherwise it would predominate to an injurious extent. It is balanced by purple red, one of these colors increasing the brilliancy of the other.
The green glass of a light shade is diapered by black.
The ruby red glass should be of a lighter shade than the yellow to produce the best effect. When balanced by green the latter should be of a rich hue.
The purple glass of a light shade inclines to lac. It should be relieved by black diaper de- signs. Purple and yellow form a harmony of contrast when juxtaposited.
Here is an artifice imagined by the artists of the XV. century in their application of stained glasses for the decoration of windows : it con-
* Fire screens are generally made in this manner.
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JOAQUIN MILLCR.
Edgar Felloes.
Photographic Times Competition, Honorable Mention.
sists to paint a design in a color different from that of the stained glass upon which it should be done ; for example, to paint an orange de- sign on a blue glass ; the blue, superficially burnt-in on one side of the glass, is grounded
off, from the part to be painted, with emery, or, which is better, etched clear to the glass with hydrofluoric acid in forming a reserve with modeling wax ; this done, the design is painted on the clear space of the blue glass. This man-
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American Institute Salon
[ January
ner, combined with the application of trans- parent colored enamels, permits the artist to display the most magnificent and luminous effect. In fact, all the artifices are admissible in glass painting to lessen the difl&culties and obtain results which otherwise could not be produced. For example, one sometimes paints on both sides of the glass to obviate the incon- veniences of the superposition of colors. One
proceeds in this manner when employing silver yellow, because it cannot be mixed with many of the other colors without being reduced. It is thus that one obtains a green coloration by laying the yellow on the verso of a blue glass. Likewise to impart to the glasses, stained with the red brown of iron, an eclat and freshness not otherwise obtained, one colors the opposite side with the silver yellow.
( To be continued.)
yMm\
i ' *
•^v\ HA^
\$ir ' ^J^"^
JANUARY ON COMMONWCALTM AVCNUC. BOSTON.
Charles E. Maxwell
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE PHOTOGRAPHIC SALON, J899.
BY THE EDITOR.
TH E Second Exhibition of the Ameri- can Institute, Photographical Sec- tion, was opened December 4, under the fostering care of Dr. J. W. Bart- lett, who has labored earnestly in the endeavor to bring to New York the best obtainable specimens of pictorial and artistic photography. And that he has not wholly failed, the many excellent prints on the walls will testify. But, somehow, I feel myself, as a critic, to be unfortunate, in that, while I would not condemn, still it were far worse ** to damn
with faint praise." The Exhibition was not representative of the best work of this or other countries, and in this, it suffered by comparison with the Philadelphia Salon, which it followed all too closely. And yet it had this distinct advantage, that there was nothing on the walls so totally bad as one or two pictures hung at the Philadelphia Salon. But there was a pre- vailing mediocrity — with the exception of the gum bichromate pictures— which was discon- certing in the extreme, when one remembers that this year the word "Salon" has been
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American Institute Satan
27
chosen by the managers to designate the col- lection. It was a good Exhibition, but scarcely a "Salon/* as I interpret the meaning of the words. Still, there is much there to learn from and to please the eye, even if the gum prints were of a somewhat too garish hue. Concern- ing these gum prints, I believe this to be the largest collection ever shown at one time, and the work of the Brothers Hofmeister, of De- machy, of Dr. Aming, and of Miiller in this medium was truly remarkable. The Hofmeis- ters, who show in this country for the first time, have apparently mastered the technique of this artistic process, even to the producing of different and contrasting tints on the same surface, but the use — and so palpably — of drusA and patnt to ac- centuate the lines and folds is hardly legiti- mate in photography. Their largest work," 'Tis not Solitude," was worth coming a long way to see. This was a har- mony in blue and green on white paper, the green pigment having. I should judge, been coated on the required parts after the first print- ing and bringing out of the blue tint. The effect was exceedingly attrac- tive, the size of the pic- ture undoubtedly lend- ing aid to the decorative total. " Fishing in Win- ter " and " Coming from Harvest Field," the former in black and the latter in an ochre tone, were fine figure studies and well rendered, but the first mentioned was indebted largely to the brush and India ink or other black paint for its finished effect.
H.P.Robinson's "Old Dapple " is the pictorial masterpiece of the Ex- hibition as far as com- position goes, but it has a certain flatness which
COMINO HOMK PROM NARVKST PIKLO
American Institute Salon
detracts from its artistic qualities. W. T. Greatbatch, an Englishman, who is making himself rapidly known by his excellent land- scape work, had one picture which was perfect, "A Warwickshire Village.'* This is not a large picture, but is perfect, both in composition and handling. Other landscapes and waterviews by John Gunston, W. A. T. Hensler, and George Lamley, all Englishmen, were distinctly clever and worthy of frequent inspection. An inter- esting series of pictures were the natural his- tory studies of R. B. Lodge, tele-photographs, as he calls them, showing birds and rabbits in their wild state. F. Barraclough turns his atten- tion of late to child studies, his children gen- erally being in that state of undress when they can sit in the breakers without wetting their clothes. They are very pretty pictures, and his little models are grace- ful and plump and evi- dently unconscious, a combination not always easy to find. A.B.Lang- field's nudes are very inferior, and could well have been rejected by the English Jury of Se- lection. The scant tiger- skin with which he drapes his female model serves only to proclaim the lack of other cover- ing and the ungainli- ness of the pose.
Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr., had the best collec- tion among the many American exhibitors, al- though there was little or nothing which has not been shown before. Mr. Murphy showed his "In the Lutschen-Thal," which has just gained a grand prize at a western Exhibition. It is so small that it is easily over- looked amongst its big neighbors, but it is well worth inspection.
The English pictures are mainly in the gal-
Th, and Oscar Ho/tntister.
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American Institute Salon
[January
OLD OAPPLK.
American Institute Salon.
H. F. Robinson.
lery, where the lighting is miserable both by day and artificial light. The numerous cross reflections make it difficult to see the prints at their best, and many good pictures were hung too low for comfort. But when one takes into consideration that the work almost entirely devolves on one man, that the Custom House officials seem to be possessed with a mania for red-taping photographs from abroad, and that
there are difficulties in the way of getting such a collection together, which the person who has not himself tried cannot appreciate, only praise for the American Institute and more especially for Dr. J. W. Bartlett and H. Snow- den Ward, who had charge of the foreign sec- tion, for their unselfish work in the endeavor to improve artistic and pictorial photography in this country can be forthcoming.
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American Institute Salo?t.
Robert Dent achy.
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Silver Bath for Albumen Paper
29
KVCNINO or LIFE.
American Institute Salon.
Edg;ar G. Lee.
SILVER BATH FOR ALBUMEN PAPER.
BY HENRY CLAY PRICE.
FROM a number of inquiries received the indications point to an early re- turn to printing on albumen paper. A large number of those using the printing out papers of the day are unacquainted with the old albumen process, therefore, a short article on the silver bath would no doubt be welcome.
The strength of the silver bath ranges from 40 to 60 grains of nitrate of silver to the ounce of water
To prepare a 40 grain solution, dissolve i pound nitrate of silver in 87 i ounces of distilled water. If the bath is prepared with other than distilled water, then put the bottle containing the silver solution out in the sun for one or two days. This will cause the organic matter con- tained in the water to precipitate; filter this out and the bath is ready for use. The hydrometer
should be used often when much paper is sil- vered, to test the strength of the bath, and when it shows less than 40 grains to the ounce, fresh silver solution must be added until the 40 grains to the ounce is reached.
A stock solution of nitrate of silver for add- ing to the bath would be water, 64 ounces; nitrate of silver, 6400 grains. The bath may be- come acid; blue litmus paper put into the solu- tion will show if acidity is present; if so, neu- tralize it by addmg to the bath a few drops of a carbonate of soda solution (water, i ounce; carbonate of soda, a few grains). Upon adding the soda solution, a precipitate of carbonate of silver will be formed in the bottom of the bottle, which should be left there, as it will keep the solution neutral and help pre- cipitate the organic matter that may accu- mulate.
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INTENSIFIERS AND REDUCERS.
BY J. F. CARTER, JR.
THIS article is not written with a view to giving a number of formulae to the tyro or to the advanced photog- rapher, but, rather, with the idea of giving such hints and suggestions to them that they may the better understand the whys and wherefores of these photo- graphic methods. It is based on the chemistry of intensification and reduction, showing some of the reactions. By careful study and appli- cations, the reader can make formulae of his own and use materials which can be found in every retail drug store.
When a plate has been developed and fixed, it is quite often the case (in fact, nearly always) that the negative is not dense enough, or is too dense to bring about the best and most artistic results in printing. All of the finer lights and shades should be so well defined in the negative that all can be easily traced. I shall commence with a negative that needs reduction — a nega- tive that is too dense, either by over-exposure, over-development, or both.
In the case of reduction or weakening, the silver deposit on the plate must be thinned or reduced so that the sun-light may get through more easily. There are all sorts of formulae given in every photo magazine for reduction but we shall treat of some of the old ones. In each of these a ferric salt acts on the silver and immediately the silver salt thus formed is re- moved by the sodium thiosulphate (commonly called hyposulphate). In the first, solution of potassioferro oxalate is prepared by adding ferric chloride to potassium oxalate and this solution, immediately before use, is mixed with a solution of sodium thiosulphate. When the plate is washed with the above mixture these reactions take place :
Ag, + Fe, (C, O,), = Ag, C, O^ + 2Fe C, O^
Ag, C, O4 + 2Na, S, O, = 2Ag Na S, O, + Na, C, O4
From these equations it may be seen][more readily why the silver which is deposited too thickly on the plate is removed and the plate brought to a finer density for the good defini- tion of the lights and shades.
Another reducer is a mixture of potassium ferricyanide and sodium thiosulphate. Here its silver is changed to a ferrocyanide and as in the first reducer, the salt of silver is removed by the thiosulphate. The plate when washed with this compound is reacted upon thus :
2Ag, + 2K. Fe, (C N)i, = Ag, Fe (C N). + K, Fe (C N).
Ag4 Fe (C N), + 4Na, S, O, = 4Ag Na S, O, + Na4 Fe (C N)«
However, there is a disadvantage with both of these reducers in that they reduce all of the silver on the plate in the same proportion. The greatest of the troubles in this line is found in the high lights — they are too dense, while the remainder of the plate is all right. All sorts of local reducers have been tried again and again, but to little avail.
Recently, however, there has been found a salt which will act on the high lights first and strongest. This salt is called ammonium per- sulphate. Care should be taken to get the normal salt NH^ SO^ and not the acid salt of NH^ HSO^ This persulphate acts on the heavy silver deposit in the high lights, bringing them to any degree of definition required and the ac- tion can be stopped at any time. Experts all over the country are trying it and find it a suc- cess. I have used it quite often in my labora- tory, testing its qualities in every way and find that it stands the test and is the long-sought-for compound.
Now, as to the intensifying compounds. This is a kind of work which must be resorted to oftener than the process of reduction. Nearly all of the intensifiers have the same principle, that of first bleaching the gelatine and then re- turning it to its former color with strength added. The bleaching agent is generally mer- curic chloride. If a negative is immersed in a
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Intensifiers and Reducers
31
solution of mercuric chloride the dark image becomes bleached, owing to the reduction of the mercurous salt to mercurous chloride by the metallic silver. Thus :
Ag, + 2Hg CI, = 2Ag CI - Hg, CI,
The image has now been transformed into a mixture of silver chloride and mercurous chloride, both white and insoluble. The bleach- ing agent is thoroughly cleansed from the plate> and the negative darkened again by another chemical. These are quite numerous, any one of which is as good as another. We will use ammonia first. Here, the silver chloride is dis- solved and the mercurous chloride changed to a dark dimercurous-ammonium chloride. Hg, CI, + 2NH, = NH, Hg, CI + NH, CI.
Secondly, we shall use the sulphide of am- monium when the silver and mercurous chlor- ides will become a mixture of sulphides.
Thirdly, we may use the sulphite of sodium when the mercurous salt is reduced to the metal. Hg, CI, + Na, SO, + H, O = 2Hg + Na,S04 + H CI.
Fourthly, a salt which reduces both the silver and mercurous salts to their metals, potassio- ferrous oxalate. Reaction is:
2Ag CI + 2Fe C, O4 + K, C, O^ = Ag, + Fe,
(C, O,), + 2K CI.
Hg, CI, + 2Fe C, O4 + K, C, O4 = 2Hg + Fe,
(C,0,),) + 2KC1.
By frequent and stu- died experiments I have come to the conclusion that this latter is the best method. The salts are transformed to their metals and thus the density of the negative is greatly increased. By bleaching again with the mercuric salt and dark- ening with the oxalate further density can be obtained. This may be done time after time.
There are scores of formulae both for reduc- tion and intensification, but I hope now that the reader can understand the underlying princi- ples sufficiently to allow him to make his own for- mula by experimenting.
COLORING BROMIDE PRINTS. For oil colors, a hot solution of 3 per cent, of good white gelatine is spread upon the surface. After drying, the layer thus formed will take oil colors readily. For water colors, use a solution of T20 grammes of shellac in 240 c.c. of alcohol. When completely dissolved, the solution is allowed to stand for 24 hours and is diluted by taking 120 c.c. of the former and 120 c.c. of alcohol. Filter before using. The solution is applied to the surface of the bromide print by means of an atomiser until it appears to be slightly wet. When dry, water colors may be applied as desired. Pastel is especially in favor for retouching or coloring bromide prints, but it is necessary that the paper should have sufficient grain, in order that the pastel may be readily applied. M. Henry advises the use of powdered pumice-stone in the following man- ner. A tuft of cotton is thoroughly impreg- nated with the powder, and, after having ap- plied to the surface of the print a layer of shellac solution above mentioned, the powder is applied by tapping lightly with the wad of the cotton. The print should thus be covered with the powder before the solutionis dry; in this way the powder attaches itself and is fixed during the drying of the solution, leaving below a clear image. — British Journal of Photography.
ON TNC PACIFIC COAST.
}V, £, Cogrtvell,
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32
^Photographing Lightning
[January
PHOTOGRAPHING UGHTNING.''
BY WALTER SPRANGE.
[AST May a circular was issued by Mr. W. J. Jenks ; a member of the American Insti- tute of Electrical En- g^ineers, 150 Broad- way, New York City; requesting amateurs who have attempted lightning photography to send him — for scien- tific purposes — un-mounted prints or lantern- slides from any negatives of lightning flashes they may have.
In response to this request I forwarded Mr. Jenks prints from the three lightning negatives reproduced with this article, accompanied with a statement to the effect that the exposures were all made within a few minutes of each other, at about one o'clock in the morning, on August 6th, 1896, and that a Voigtlander lens, stopped down to F.16, adjusted in a Sco- vill detective camera was used.
The night was an extremely oppressive one, the temperature very high, and the atmos- phere sufficiently still and humid to be almost unbearable. At about one o'clock in the morn- ing, while I was absorbed in the development of negatives, a terrific crash of thunder suddenly broke the stillness; this was fol- lowed almost immediately by a heavy downfall of rain Hoping this summer shower would re- freshen the atmosphere, I left the dark-room to open the windows of an adjoining room and, while doing this, was met by a very vivid tlash
of lightning, followed almost immediately by a second crash of thunder, which seemed to be directly over the roof of the building.
Like a true devotee to photography, I at once decided upon trying to "take" a flash of light- ning. Hastily screwing a tripod to a hand- camera, I set them up outside one of the lee windows, upon a piazza roof which extends around the building. After removing one of the slides of the plateholder and opening the shutter in front of the lens, I pointed the cam. era toward the darkness in the south, and sat down outside on the window-sill with lens cap in hand, ready to cover the aperture as soon as a lightning flash appeared.
LIQHTNINO FLASHES.
aUILDINQ WHERE EXPOSURES WERE MADE.
In less than one minute a very bright flash, in the direction to which the camera was pointed, exposed one plate, and, within the space of five minutes, two more plates had been exposed in the same manner. Hoping to make further exposures I remained to await more flashes; but, after several min- utes of intense stillness, broken only by the down-pouring rain, a crash of thunder sounded a long distance away, in a direction which would have necessitated the removal of the camera to the end of the building which was then being deluged with rain.
Returning to the dark-room, the three plates were developed, much time and care being de- voted to them long after the zig-zag lines had appeared, because I did not appreciate what those marks were. Since then the negatives have been stored away until the circular re- ceived from Mr. Jenks brought them to mind.
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Photographing Lightning
33
In a letter acknowledging the receipt of the prints sent, Mr. Jenks adds: — "They are some of the most interesting and at the same time perplexing of any that have ever come to my knowledge," and further on in the letter he inquires: — "In the case of the two negatives which show duplicate flashes, is it possible that the camera moved during the exposure ? "
A few days later Professor Elihu Thom- son, of the General Electric Company, in Lynn, Mass., visited the premises and made a careful investigation of the cause of the phenomena.
The premises I occupy are situated over the railroad station at Beach Bluff, Mass. The station has a single railroad track and
LIOMTNINO FLASHES
cnossiNQ WHcnc tmk flashes occurheo.
a long concrete walk on its west- erly side. The walk extends in a southerly direction about one hun- dred and thirty feet, to an avenue which crosses the railroad there. Electric wires stretched along the avenue about thirty feet above the ground, also pass over the railroad track at this crossing.
The negatives show that the light- ning first struck one of the electric wires at its lowest point, in the center between the poles that support it, and this point being immediately over the railroad track, the sparks left the wire for one of the heavier iron rails beneath.
The storm was bearing from the west toward the sea. The negatives of the double flashes show that the
heated atmosphere of the first electric dis- charge caused a second discharge each time, and that, although they appear to be sim- ultaneous discharges, sufficient time had elapsed between the two discharges for the general movement of the storm to carry the second sparks over to the other iron rail.
The zig-zag appearance on all three nega- tives is caused by the irregular passages of the electric sparks through the air after they had left the electric wire before reaching the iron rails, the direction of their course being toward the camera. They struck the iron rail about one hundred feet distant from the camera ; but I was not aware of this at the time or it is quite possible that the exposures would not have been made.
LIOHTNINa FLASHES,
/. H. Dnnn,
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Aiding Beginners in Photography
[January
AIDING BEGINNERS IN PHOTCXJRAPHY,
BY FREDKRK! F^LIX.
" lARELY will a generous spirit shown towards those just entering upon the practice of photography not prove its own reward. A free ex- planation of the many things that K.LeR.i.e. ^^^ intricate
and trying to a beginner will secure friends in those assisted, and, at the same time, will ac- complish much in strengthening the knowledge of the instructor by bringing such knowledge to practical tests and proofs. Hence it is good for one to be generous with assistance, provided the applicant for aid is of an appreciative tempera- ment. Those who by their manner indicate, as so many do, that they will be willing to take all information as a matter of course and will not offer anything but the scantest thanks in return, need not be considered as included in this refer- ence. It is very frequent that a beginner who has to be told the difference between a plate and a negative, or between a fixing-bath and a developer, will in a short space of time learn just little enough more to give the idea that his is the universal knowledge and his mission is to teach all others, even his poor, humbled in- structor of a short time previous. Such people harden the advanced amateur or the profes- sional photographer against offering advice or information, and beginners in general suffer as a consequence.
But an appreciative beginner in photography is occasionally to be found, and such is the one to favor, with the idea in mind that the instruc- tion offered will work advantageously to both. If the beginner comes for advice before having made any step whatever in photography, the first thing will be to offer the best suggestions as to the selection of an outfit. In doing so, it is best to consider several different things and allow them to govern. One of the most im- portant is the financial ability of the pupil, since so much in photography depends upon the means at hand, especially at the time of select-
ing an instrument with which to work Pho- tography calls for frequent expenditures, even if investments are always made with restric- tion. Expenses may be kept, by judicious action, within most modest bounds, and, on the opposite, they may be made to reach quite im- portant figures if there is no restriction and no occasion for it. In starting from the very beginning it is, therefore, best to find the finan- cial limits. If the limits are to be restricted closely, the fewest and simplest things must be selected; but if they are unlimited, or practi- cally so, it will be a much simpler and pleas- anter task to make the selection of an outfit.
Another thing to consider is the general capacity of the pupil for the work of photogra- phy. Some have special talent for the require- ments of the art, and need only suggestions to be able to take up the study and carry it out properly. Others scarcely grasp the ideas when most thoroughly demonstrated, and these, like those who are inclined to be unappreciative, need not be considered as included.
Having a beginner with the agreeable com- bination of possessing reasonable funds and the proper appreciativeness, queries may be made with the view of determining upon the instru- ment to recommend. If the camera is to be used as an aid to art, it will require a selection which may be different than if it is to be for business. And still different will it be if the camera is for mere pleasure without regard to art or business. Most amateurs desire a camera that will do duty for every requirement, and it is now almost impossible to fill the demand. It is quite a tax on an instrument to be de- pended upon for making portraits, landscapes, interiors, architectural work, for copying, and for every other use imaginable; but the modern perfection of the manufacturers' work furnishes what answers remarkably well for every possi- ble call of the amateur, from instantaneous hand work to copying.
If such an " all around " camera is to be looked for, consider size first This is the day of the hand-camera of small sizes. Their low prices, together with the advertisements that explain their possibilities as almost magical, cause the numbers of would-be photographers to increase by thousands and tend to a woeful lack in the general average of amateur pho- tography. Some of them awaken to their posi- tion and strive for better material, but the great majority continue on in the rush of the army in which a start was made. Keeping in mind
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1900]
Aiding Beginners in Photography
35
that there are hundreds of varieties of cameras catalogued, and that in select- ing one style or make the advantages of the others may have to be given up. still one can make a selection that will come out all right in the end, and do- ing so will be a great aid to the begin- ner. It would be. well to advise a 5 x 7 camera, as that size is distinctly an **all around '* selection. It is large enough for work of fair pretentions, and if, for economy or otherwise, it is desired to use smaller sizes of plates, all that is necessary is to select kits for that pur- pose. A 5 X 7 camera will give gen- eral satisfaction usually from the very start, and will be more appreciated every week of its possession. This is easily shown by the many people who are burdened with small sizes, pur- chased unwisely perhaps at the start, and who would be glad to get rid of them to enjoy the advantages of some- thing larger.
As to the style, there is nothing nicer than the present perfection in folding boxes. They combine all the advantages • of the bellows view camera with those of the universal focus hand-box. Make a selection of one with a swing-back, a rising and falling front, rack and pinion focusing device, and other advantages which make the modem camera lack- ing in nothing. As the lens is the im- portant point in photography next to the skill of the operator, be sure to have a good one selected. It need not necessarily be of great price, but enough allowance should be made to insure a lens that will not fail in any of the many requirements of an amateur. Such a lens may be found in the rapid rectilinear type — one of sufficient focus to equal twice the length of the plate to be used. The next point is the shutter, and it is as important as any of the others, since the entire photograph depends upon the proper exposure. A reliable and low- priced shutter can be purchased, separately or with the box, that operates with a bulb release and has a range of exposure from one second to the fraction of a second up to one-hundredth. This kind of an outfit may be purchased to- gether in one box for i^^^ and the owner of such an instrument can know it will give satis- faction in every respect from its first posses- sion to the last. Advise the purchase of a good,
UNE OLANEUSC*
Alfred Werner.
steady tripod, and its use after purchase. There is some hope for an amateur that works with the tripod and studies the ground-glass with care. Plates are surest and most satisfactory, and they should be used wherever it is con- venient to do so, consequently extra holders are desirable. Roll films are very convenient and proper for travel, and they may be used in such a camera as described by the additional pur- chase of a roll-holder, which can be slipped in the camera just as a plate-holder is inserted.
Whether the amateur makes such a choice as described or something quite different, there is yet advice which is applicable to all cases and is most important. It is to give care and study to photographic work. Success in everything depends upon these two points, and anything as delicate as the science of photography cer- tainly should receive its full portion.
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IV. H. Mapts,
A LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPH.
BY LEILA R. RAMSDELL.
The nearer meadows, mirrowed here,
In fair, broad acres lie ; More goodly fields the camera shows
Than nature gives the eye.
But yonder, past the fringe of trees.
Upon the widening stream, The firm, round island, grouped with hills.
Shows only as a dream.
The mirrorings of the camera's eye Like childhood's thoughts appear;
They make the distant seem more dim. And magnify the near.
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1900]
The Last Year of the Century
37
THE LAST YEAR OF THE CENTURY.
WITH this number we com- mence the last year of the nineteenth century, a cen- tury so full of wonders and achievements in all fields that it is not at all improbable that it will stand out, for all time, as the greatest era of inven- tion, of progress, and of advancement, that the world will ever see. Not the least of all these achievements were the discoveries of Niepce, Daguerre, Fox-Talbot, and Draper, whose investigations and experiments were the foundation of all that wonderful science we call Photogfraphy. That there is much yet to be learned, much to be discovered, no one doubts for a moment, therefore let us not rest content with our present knowledge. The entire aboli- tion of the dark room, the truthful rendering and reproduction of nature's colors, photo- graphically, the simplifying of every known process and procedure, are all possibilities of the near future, and earnest workers the world over are daily advancing our science along those lines.
The Photographic Times, in this last year of the century, will aim to do its part in the gen- eral advancement. It is hampered by no mediaeval ideas, no quaint conservatism, and is subservient to photography only. Its policy will be to provide for all, to be liberal and progressive, not devoted to the interests of any one branch of the art and science of photogra- phy, but with its pages wide open to all that is good and new. A short r/sunU of what we in- tend doing during the coming year may not be amiss.
To begin with the artistic features. The representative photographic club of each of the chief countries in the world will present each month a set of pictures, showing the best work done by members of that club. February will be devoted to the work of the New York Camera Club, who will show some eight of the masterpieces of its members, including pictures by Mrs. KUsebier, R. Eikemeyer, Jr., A. Stieglitz. C. H. White, I. Berg, and others. One of these club pictures will be given each month in photogravure, the others in half-tone process.
Such a series of pictures should be of immense value from an educative point, and we believe that readers of the Times will appreciate our efforts in this direction. Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Japan, India, Russia, Holland, etc., will all be represented in their turn.
Scientific articles are in preparation or promised by Mr. von Hoist, Henry Wenzell, Jr., W. de W. Abney, Dr. Miethe, P. P. Ducho- chois. Dr. Shufeldt and many other well- known men. E. Lee Ferguson, Osborne Yellott, John Tennant, etc., etc., will contribute practical articles. Scenes of photographic interest will be described by Miss Skeel, George P. Meeker, Mrs. M. M. Davis,, and others. Articles in lighter vein by D. H. Talmadge; critiques by Sadakichi Hartmann and the editor, and a series of papers on the life and work of Fox-Talbot, will help to make up a most interesting maga- zine.
A series of articles on Lantern Slides will be run during the winter months, and for the ab- solute beginner we shall start next month " Notes for Novices," in which the editor will endeavor to impart clearly and in the simplest form, sufiBcient knowledge to the novice to en- able him, with practice, to do good and serious work in photography. A most important fea- ture will be a monthly review of some thirty of the leading photographic magazines of the world, together with short summaries of the principle articles they contain. This will form a most valuable department.
Lastly, we would draw attention to our offer, in conjunction with the Doubleday & McClure Co., of $175 in cash for the illustrating by pho- tographs from nature of certain prescribed books. This opens up a new field for the pho- tographer, and the practice in composition and posing it will engender should be of vast bene- fit to all who compete. Articles on composition and similar themes are being specially prepared for such as may need instruction on those sub- jects, so that all may enter the lists without fear.
Many other things too numerous to mention are being planned and prepared for our readers, and we believe that this volume will contain twelve of the most successful photographic jour- nals ever published
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OUP COMPETITIONS
s?«.'-
THERE are competitions and compe- titions— some that are of value both to the world at large as well as to the individual competitors, and some —unfortunately the majority — that are mere tiresome pleas for patronage, or poorly veiled attempts to get something for nothing under the guise of a generous distribution of prizes of more or less — generally less — value.
The Photographic Times has, fortunately, never had to resort to this latter style of com- petition. Silver and bronze medals for meri- torious work, without restrictions of any kind, have been offered and freely competed for.
This year, however, to mark the end of a century remarkable for the wonderful progress made in photography, the Photographic Times has decided to institute a competition of a somewhat unusual order. For the purpose we made arrangement with Messrs. Doubleday & McClure Company, whose up-to-date methods and appreciation of what is new and valuable appealed to us, and now make the following announcement :
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES AND DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO.
In association offer
FIVE PRIZES
ht Prize: $(00 Gtsh and the Photofi^raphic Times Silver
MedaL 2nd Prize : $50 Cash and the Photographic Times Bronze
Medal. 3rd Prize : $25 Gtsh and the Photographic Times Bronze
MedaL 4th Prize: The Photographic Times Silver MedaL 5th Prize: Tiie Photographic Times Bronze MedaL
For a Series of Photographs illustrating any one of the books mentioned below :
I. THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA. By Booth Tarkington.
A story of Indiana city and town life. The hero is a young newspaper editor whose hostility to the White Caps of the neighborhood leads to an attack, when he is kidnapped and severely injured. During his absence from his newspaper, the paper is edited by a young woman, with various complications, the plot presenting many opportunities for clever composition and illus- trating.
II.
BOB, SON Ollivant.
OF BATTLE. By Alfred
This is primarily a dog story, and the central figure is Old Bob, a famous sheep dog, with extraordinary intel- ligence and character. The scene of the book is laid in England.
III. BLIX. By Frank Norris.
The love-story of a young Califomian reporter- novelist. Both in the chance for picturesque views and in a most exciting fishing scene there are unusual chances here for the photographic illustrator.
These books have been selected with the purpose of presenting the best opportunity in several fields of work and subject, to call' forth the best powers of selection and composition in the individual, which will in itself be an educa- tion to the eye and mind, and stimulate the effort of showing- new effects such as years of ordinary camera practice cannot give.
The competition is open to every one in this and other countries, and it is hoped may prove to be the opening of a new and rich field to the photographer heretofore monopolized by the artist in black-and-white and water color
The pictures submitted will be judged by the Editor of the Photographic Times; Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, the well-known amateur; and Double- day & McClure Co
The copyright of the prize-winning sets shall be vested in the publishers.
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Oar Competitions
39
No conditions are imposed on competitors, but the following few rules are set to govern the competition :
1. The competition will close June r, 1900, and all entries must be made on or before that date at the office of the Photographic Times, 60-62 East Eleventh street, New York.
2. Competitors are not limited in the sets of pictures to be sent in. It is desirable that any one set illustrat- ing a book should consist of at least eight pictures, and as many more as the individual competitor thinks fit.
3. All entries must be made post or express paid.
4. Accompanying each set shall be the title of the book and a sealed envelope containing the full name and address of the author, together with a pen-name, or motto, etc., which latter is to be plainly written on the back of eacA photograph, together with the title.
5. The copyright of the prize-winner shall belong to the publishers without further purchase, and the Pho- TOGRAPHic Times shall be at liberty to reproduce in its pages any of the photographs submitted. The sets not winning prizes will be returned to the authors on demand.
6. The publishers reserve the right to purchase any of the photographs submitted (other than the prize- winning sets) at a price to be mutually agreed upon.
7. Photographs should be as far as possible on smooth-surfaced papers and neatly mounted on stout cards.
I. II.
WE also invite entries to the following competitions : I. Lantern Slides — set of six on any subject. Silver medal. Bronze medal. Entries must be received by April ist, 1900.
II. Study of a Child.
I. Silver medal. II. Bronze medal. Entries must be received by March ist, 1900.
III. Still Life Study. I. Silver medal.
II. Bronze medal.
Entries must be received by May ist, 1900.
RULES.
Rule i.— All entries must be forwarded to Editor Photographic Times, 60 and 62 East nth Street, New York, and marked ** Competition."
Rule 2. — No indication of the competitor's identity to be placed on the competing pictures. A nam de plume (initials debarred) should be written on the back of the picture, apd a sealed envelope containmg the name and address of the competitor, together with a few particu- lars regarding the photograph and any other details of interest, should also be sent, upon the outside of which the nomde plume must be clearly repeated.
RuLK 3.— The competition to be an open one. Any number of pictures may be sent, but each one must be accompanied by another sealed envelope and a different nom de plume used in each case.
Rule 4.— All pictures for competition must be sent prepaid
Rule 5. — The whole of the work entered must be the work of the competitor, that is to say, the exposure, de- velopment, printing, toning, mounting, retouching, and finishing.
Rule 6. — The prints must be mounted. Framing optional.
NOTES.
All the lules given must be strictly adhered to or the competitor will be disqualified.
Absolute discretion will be placed in the hands of the judge or judges, but we reserve the right to adjudicate on any question outside the actual judging.
A wards will be withheld if the judges decide thai the work is not sufficiently meritorious. The posses- sion of a Photographic Times Medal will, therefore, be a guarantee of a high order of merit.
The editor reserves the right of publishing reproduc- tions of any of the photographs submitted.
No competitor shall receive more than one prize.
Pictures may be of any size or shape.
Any photographic process may be employed .
Pictures entered for competition will not be return- able.
The awards will be announced as soon after date of closing as pos.sible.
J899 COMPETITIONS. No. J7.
Silver Medal :
Edgar Felloes, Portland, Oregon for ** Frederick Ward as Macbeth." Honorable Mention :
Edgar Felloes, Portland, Oregon, for * Joaquin Miller.* Honorable Mention :
Holly.
N. B. Will the author of this picture kindly send name and address?
No awards were made in Competitions 15 and 16, as the photographs vsubmitted were not of sufficient merit.
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MAUD MULLCfl.
GAIN a year has gone by and again we have the pleas- ure of intro- ducing a new volume of the American An- nual OF Pho- tography AND Photo - Times Almanac to the notice of our readers.
A careful study of this annual con- j. w. Dunn, vinces us that it would be difficult to get together a more comprehensive series of articles or a finer set of illustrations. Mr. Woodbury has done his work well and faithfully, and this volume is a fit follower of the many excellent annuals pub- lished by the Scovill & Adams Co. There is abundance of material for all classes. The professional, the amateur, and the tyro — each has been equally well taken care of and the illus- trations— both those accompany- ing the text and supplementary — show that care and fine judgment have been given in their selection and arrangement. A list of the contributors would mean a list of the leading photographers through- out the world, and it is surely a proof of the value of the Annual that it should have the power to attract such names to its pages. Almost every branch of photog- raphy has its special article. Hints for the beginner, technical theories for the scientist, new ideas in de- velopment, etc., for the advanced worker, and the end a perfect sunsct.
encyclopedia of photographic formulas and tables.
As a frontispiece we have an Albertype from a negative by Moreno, and a photogravure from a negative by Schloss also adds to the rich appearance of the book.
Where there is so much that is good, it is dif- ficult to specialize, but we should like to men- tion the illustrations by A. Horsley Hinton. His landscapes show a subtlety of handling, a grasp of composition and true respect for light values which mark him pre-eminent in his pro- fession, and we would draw attention to these pictures as object lessons not to be carelessly passed over. The characteristic style of the French school is well represented by the work of Puyo and Le Begue. Craig Annan, one of the leaders of the so-called Glasgow school, is represented by three of his pictures, which have a charm distinctly their own. Alfred Stieglitz, Clarence H. White, E. Nicolai, John E. Dumont and Frank Eugene are a few of the American names to be found in the list, whilst among the contributors of literary material are Dr. John Nicol, Dr. John Bartlett, E. Lee Ferguson, Sadakichi Hartmann, Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, Wra. J. Kinsley, the handwriting expert, Alfred
G. N. Warwick.
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Mtonal Notes
41
I COIN DU FEU.
Stieglitz, J ohn Beeby, and others too numerous to mention. The two last mentioned photog- raphers have each an article of exceeding value to the amateur. Mr. Stieglitz, in his article on *' A Few Common Fallacies," urges the amateur to employ longer exposures, and thus avoid the all too frequent undertimed negative, whilst John Beeby, in his ** Simple Printing Dodges," tells us how we can effectively improve our prints. Dr. John Bartlett has much to say on mounting and our amateur friends — profes- sionals too — should read his article and lay it to heart.
To those fond of experimenting, such articles as "Ice Used as a Lens," by Life Griffin; "Warm Tones on Gelatino-Chloride by Development,'* by C. C. Vevers; "Silver Printing on Plain Paper," by Henry C. Del ery, will appeal, while others gifted with mechanical genius will ap- preciate the vaiious notes on homemade apparatus. It is impossible to give here more than an idea of the contents of the Annual. We can only say that an investment in a book of this nature is bound to be a profitable one.
C. Payo.
We are pleased to notice that our esteemed contemporary, Photographic Life, continues the policy, commenced with its first number, of reproducing in its columns both pictures and letterpress which have previously appeared in the Times. We regret to say, however, that the editor has omitted to give us credit for the matter which has been taken from oiir columns. This may be due merely to an oversight; but so much of the matter continues to be taken bodily from our pages each month that we feel constrained to call the editor's attention to this oversight on his part.
In this connection, it may not be out of place to mention that the editor of Photographic Life is Mr. Walter E. Woodbury, who formerly edited the Photographic Times veiy success- fully for several years. It can therefore readily be understood how Mr. Woodbury would natur- ally turn to our pages for various purposes, and we may say that we have no objections to his taking matter from our columns, but are, in
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Editorial Notes
[January
fact, pleased to have him or any of our contem- rapories reprint both letterpress and pictures (with the exception of copyrighted matter, re- production of which we cannot allow) which have appeared in our pages, provided full credit is given. What we do object to, however, on the part of any one, is having the matter taken bodily from our columns without any mention whatever being made as to the source from which it has been obtained.
In this number we re- produce a landscape by Mr. E. L. Mudge. Con- cerning his work, Mr. Mudge writes us : "I am not an amateurprop- erly speaking, but my friends are not alto- gether wrong in speak- ing of me as such, for in this line — out-door work — I work almost wholly for my own pleas- ure. The pictures sent you while I realize that they are not master- pieces, yet I have taken them because I love the mountains, the rugged cliffs, the rivers, and summer skies.
" Sometimes my cam- era seems to understand and catch the spirit of the scene before me, and I get a picture and am happy. At other times I fail and am discour- aged, but so far I always have the heart to try again. I am full of the spirit of photography, and my friends tell me I am succeeding, which is further evidenced by ^hthait.
a rapidly increasing business, but my thoughts are uncrystalized and indefinite, and I have a horror of long rambling articles that means nothing, so I feel a hesitancy about imposing my ideas upon readers who are mostly more
mature and practical than I. If I were to be so bold as to advise, however, I would aKy: * Professionals, get out in the -woods. Study nature as she w and get in touch with the spirit of summer. Don't carry a pocket kodak either, but take an 8 x lo — or a II X 14 if you have means of carrying it — and attempt some am- bitious pictures. If you succeed you are repaid. If you fail, and can tell why, your experience is worth many plates. Out- door work earnestly at- tempted will keep you in touch with art, and your portraiture cannot but be improved.' "
We print the follow- ing letter— the author hides his identity under a pseudonym — because we hope it will induce others who have been impelled to the art by the study of The Times, to follow *' Amidol's " example and submit specimens of their work to us. In the future, we are going to take special care of the novice and devote several pages each month to him alone, and we ask in return that the novice shall give us his confidence — and in- cidentally his pictures — and tell us of his needs:
Washington, D. C, ) October 28, 1899. ) Editor Times :
Some months ago I ran across an old bound volume of The Times in a library. The inevitable was the re- sult It came, I saw, it con- quered—the old saying, a little modified. The first vol- ume created interest ; the second, desire ; the following one enthusiasm, and the next the camera. There you are, a whole history in a nutshell.
The prints herewith are practically my first attempts ; in fact. 1 should deem them conclusive evidence to that effect, but they are visible products of my enlistment
c. H. White,
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1900]
Editorial Notes
43
into that gpreat army of camera fiends, and where the beginner who does not have an insane desire to take the baby, the family, or any other old thing and then exhibit the results, bad of course, to some one. So the thought struck me, ** Why not bestow upon the editor of The Times some of my creations ; he will— er— he ought to appreciate them." So here they are. I might mention that I have lots more where these came from. They are mostly of the baby, though there are a few others. I have not counted the negatives or prints. My wife says I have several tons of them. She ought to know for she knows everything, excepting, of course, the cost of photography.
You need not appreciate these prints, because I don't believe they require any, but for fear you will and thus give me an injurious shock, I believe I will omit name, and close. Yours sincerely. Amidol.
ject. The fact that a combine is under formation to control the manufacture of plate cameras and supplies adds to the news interest of the item.
Our esteemed contemporary, ** Anthonys Photographic Bulletin^ has fallen into a two- fold error in a "valedictory" which opens the December number. It bids farewell to this century ; but is not satisfied with this mis- calculation, but goes on to bid farewell to the "Eighteenth Century." The eighteenth cen- tury passed away ninety and nine years ago, and we are at present in the nineteenth century, and shall be until midnight December 31, 1900.
Papers incorporating the Defender Photo Supply Company of Rochester were filed with the Secretary of State at Albany yesterday. The object of the company is the manufacture and sale of photographic supplies. It is capitalized at $100,000. Martin Hoyt, treasurer of the C. P. Ford Shoe Company, of Rochester, is one of the stockholders. Kodak manufacturers and dealers were surprised when they heard of the new company this afternoon. Such great secrecy has enveloped the organization of the concern that few knew of its pro-
" SOLILOQUIES."
{Recorded by Mr. Punch's Phonograph.) In a Dark-room. There, everything's ready, I think— developer, ••hypo.," water — so out goes the light. Perfectly simple to de- velop one's own films; far better and cheaper than send- ing them to Wfstman's. . . . Night-light in my red lamp seems a bit feeble— hope to goodness it won*t go out. Now 1 must unroll the film. . . . Hang the stuff, how beastly curly it is. . . . Wonder if I'm cutting it at the right place? Must chance it. Now then, Where's that book of directions ? . . . Bless me if I haven't left it downstairs, and, of course, if 1 open the door now all the film will be ruined ! . . . However. I daresay 1 can remember most of it. . . . Let's see. was it two parts of " developer A " and two parts of " B," or two of *• A " and one of " B "? . . . Some- thing's coming already, black spots are appearing on the film. I believe that's Kate, or is it a view of the church ? . . . Hullo, there's some one— what? eh? What the dickens am I doing in your dressing-room f Develop- ing photographs, and I chose it because it has shutters. . . . No. you can't come in. Time to dress as you're dining out? Well, you should have thought of that be- fore. . . . Don't do that, you idiot, you'll burst the door open. . . . Just what you mean to do? Oh, nonsense, you'll spoil all my photos— ruin them ! . . . Yes, I'll be as quick as possible. . . . Eh ? Yes, they're coming out splendidly, splendidiy. Do go away please I . . . Confound that fellow Jack, probably he's made me spoil the lot. . . . Wonder how long ago I put this lot in the fixing-bath before he came and made that row ? . . . But surely I ought to have fixed them first thing? Wish I had that book here. Well, I'll try fixing these before I develop them. . . . Daresay either way will i>e equally good. . . . Hullo, here's another bottle, labelled " Bromide of Potassium." . . . Wonder when that ought to be used? . . . Let's see, it's a sedative, isn't it ? Doctors prescribe it for ** nerves," so I'll put in the fixing-bath. . . . Wish this red lamp would give more light . . . I do believe its going out I It /> ! ! . . . And here I am in pitch darkness, with some of the films fixing and some developing, and There goes the de- veloper over Jack's hair-brushes ! Where are those beastly matches ? . . . Thank goodness, I've got a candle lighted at last. ... 1 declare, all the film is coal-black, and not a sign of a picture on auy of it ! And I promised Kate half-a-dozen copies of her portrait ! Almost makes me inclined to chuck photography al- together. Anyhow, if I "press the button " in future, I'll be the jolly careful that some one else ** does the rest !" — Punch.
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Tm eoiTOR's Tablg.
Photosrams of the Year. Yearly this interesting book seems to increase in size, and in value, too, from an educational point of view. It brings before us nearly all the noted pictures of the year, and gives us, this year for the first time, a complete view of the manner in which the Royal Exhibition pictures were hung (it fails, through diminutive size of cuts, to give us these pict- ures themselves). The excellent comments and criticism of Mr. A. C. R. Carter on the British work, Joseph Keiley on the *'American School," and Demachy on * 'Artistic Photography in France," make up one of the most useful and entertaining annuals yet put before us. Paper covers, goc. ; cloth covers, $1.20. Dawbarn & Ward, Ltd., London. Tennant & Ward, New York, American Agents.
be found be tv\*een the covers, and the accompanying illus- trations help to elucidate the text and otherwise make up an interesting annual. E. & H. T. Anthony & Co. New York; Cloth bound, $1.25. Paper covers, 75c.
Few books have won so enviable a reputation in so short a time as that enjoyed all over the world by Pen- rose's Process Year Booky first issued in 1895. It is not only supremely interesting in its information, but clev- erly attractive in its many illustrations. The articles are by practical workers whose names and work are known wherever process blocks are made: W. Gamble, Col. Waterhouse, W. Cronenberg, Max Levy, M. Wolfe, Oscar E. Binner, W. D. Richmond, C. G. Zander, Geo. Dawson, Horace Wilmer, Chapman Jones, E. Sanger Shepherd, etc. The illustrations include examples of photogravure, collotype, four-color and three-color work, half-tones in one and two printings, the new ** Rem- brandt" method, giving prints resembling artistically toned photographs, a beautiful •' Photochrom " view, and more than fifty selected illustrations, initials, ttc. , in the text.
An exceptionally valuable paper is that contributed by Col. J. Waterhouse on •• Etching Fluids for Copper," practically covering the whole field. " The Half-tone Theory Graphically Explained " is another paper worthy of special mention.
Briefly, the book is one which everybody interested in process reproduction should see, and having seen, will desire to possess. It is printed on fine wood-cut paper, and bound in cloth, with a cover of artistic design. Price. $1.50 post paid. Sole American Agents, Tennant and Ward, New York.
The International Annual of Anthony's Photog- raphic Bulletin. — Another volume of this clever annual is to hand and forms a valuable addition to our table. Mr. Scandlin, the editor, has evidently set himself a severe task and accomplished it with great credit to him- self. Some seventy articles touching on all the various branches of photography, well and ably written, are to
Alters' Drawings. Forty-three lithographs by C. W. Allers. As a Christmas gift to an ambitious photog- rapher, nothing could be better than this portfolio of drawings. There are few draughtsmen who can surpass Aller in his peculiar line of work, and it is a pity that not more of his sketches are to be found in this country. His drawings are entirely free from any studied or labored effect, accomplished by a few clever lines and an absolute subordination of unnecessary detail. But the particular feature of which 1 wish to call attention to in this portfolio is the masterful posing and group, ing of the figures and the harmony of composition. Take *• The Necessary Speech." The action of the man is lifelike down to the position of the hand, with which he seems to be counting off the various points in his speech. A good study of this drawing will teach the photographer much. The same with **The Bouquet." For a genre picture, what better posing could a photog- rapher desire. Allers* sketches each tells a story, each has a point to it, which not the most careless observer can miss. In grouping, Allers excels; he balances his figures and sets them in such natural unconscious posi- tions that there is no jarring element. He brings out forcefully those parts of his figures necessary to the whole, and keeps back with a few shadowy outlines the unessential details. The two drawings *' If," and ** The Brotherly Stage," are excellent examples of this. We recommend this portfolio to the ambitious amateur pho- tographer for study and consideration. He will learn much that is good from it and naught that is bad. R. H. Russell, publisher. New York.
The following descriptions of calendars for 1900, coming from R. H. Russell, shows a very attractive line of art work, from which the most fastidious may select :
Of those in color, the '* Bird Calendar," twelve de- signs by H. H. Bennett; the ** Revolutionary Calendar,*' twelve drawings by Ernest Peixotto, formerly one of the artists of T/te Lark; the "Zodiac Calendar," de- signed by Chester Loomis, and the *' Pickaninny Calen- dar," drawn by E. W Kemble, are the ones offered ; while new editions of the *• Golf Calendar," drawn by Edward Pen field, and supplemented by several new designs for 1900, E. W. Kemble's *' Coon Calendar," the "Chinese Childrens," and the *' Sports and Seasons Calendars," are announced.
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Notes and News
45
There are also four calendars by Frederic Remington, called, respectivel3\ *• The Soldier," ** Indian," *' Fron- tier," and ** Cowboy Calendars." These are all lo x 14 inches, and form a very attractive set. An '* Animal Calendar," by Frank Verbeck, twelve animals in a new and striking treatment of black and white, and ** The Cupid Calendar," designed by J. Campbell Phillips, in large size (14 x 22 inches), are also included. There is also a new edition of the ** Wenzell Calendar."
R. H. Russell, 3 West 29th Street, New York.
Peic Woffinston. Chas. Reade. A new edition of this, perhaps the best of Reade's novels. The book is elaborately illustrated by some seventy drawings by Hugh Thomson, who has caught the spirit and action of the story with rare success. $2.00 net. Doubleday & McClure Co., Publishers, New York.
Captain Kodak, a camera story, by Alexander Black. This is, primarily, a story for boys, illustrated through- out by photographs by the author. The clever way in which the author has made his camera subservient to his story, however, is worth recording, and those of our readers who are going in for our book illustration com- petition, should get this book, if only to see the possi- bilities of pictorial photography. The story is interest- ing, and Mr. Black is an expert with his camera, to judge from the pictures. I^othrop Publishing Co., Bos- ton, Mass.
Bandanna Ballads. Drawings and verses, by Howard Weeden. A collection of negro verses, illustrated by the authoress herself, so full of naturalness and spon- taneity and withal so tender that they touch a respon- sive echo in the heart of every true-feeling man. $r.oo net. Doubleday & McClure Co , Publishers, New York.
The up-to-date dealer in cameras and supplies will not admit that winter is a dull season, simply because he makes it his business to draw trade. John Curtis, Jr., of Philadelphia, is one of these dealers, and the adver- tising and circular matter he sends out is particularly inviting. His latest, a booklet titled ** Christmas and Camera"— the happiest combination on earth — is well gotten up and describes various makes of cameras suit- able as Christmas gifts. Send for a copy.
The dan^r of preparing flash-light compositions, without proper precautions, has once more been ex- emplified, with disastrous results, and this time, un- fortunately, an acquaintance of ours has been the victim. William Smith, an employee of a Buffalo photographic supply store, was mixing up a large quantity of chlorate of potash, magnesium, and black oxide of iron, when, without any warning, the composition exploded with terrible force, severely injuring Mr. Smith and destroy- ing several thousand dollars of glass and other property . Doubtless the explosion was due to spontaneous com- bustion of the chlorate of potash. We trust Mr Smith will recover and not entirely lose the sight of one of his eyes, as is at present feared.
Recently, after having developed some half dozen 6J^ X 8}^ plates in a slightly less than normal Pyroca techin developer, I had occasion to try one or two prints on velox. The developer, I had made up about
10 ozs., had remained in the tray some three hours, and was consequently slightly oxidized. I exposed the velox as usual, and then put the print in the pyroca- techin developer, to which, of course, I had added no bromide. I waited two or three minutes, and was be- ginning to think that the strength of the developing solution has entirely dissipated, when I noticed slight signi of development. Slowly the picture appeared, and finally I obtained a perfect sepia tone. With sub- sequent prints I obtained a variety of tones ranging from yellow to reds and deep browns, depending on the length of exposure. The formula I used was the ordi- nary one of
Sulphite of soda, crystallized 100 f^rams
Caustic soda (purified, in sticks) 14 grams
Distilled water 400 c. c.
Pyrocatechin 20 grams
Of this solution I used one part to 18 parts of water, the normal developer being one part to 15 parts water.
In the fixing bath the tones deepened to a slight ex- tent, but the tone desired was easily regulated, once that fact was noted.
The Twentieth Century International Photographic Exhibition. For the second year there will be a big photographic section at Bingley Hall, Birmingham, England, next March. Mr. Walter D. Welford is man ager again His address is 19 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane, London, W. C, England.
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Notes and News
[ January
We draw attention to the following notice which is being sent out by Geo. Sperry, the photographer, of Toledo :
STOLEN
From my studio, the night of November 13th, one old style Voigtlander portrait lens No 21485, diameter of lens about 3 inches, one Beck 18 inch focus Rectilinear lens No. 2728. Any information leading to the recovery of the goods or arrest of the parties implicated will be thankfully received and suitably rewarded. Geo. B. Sperry, 31Q Summit Street, Toledo, Ohio.
The New York Society of Amateur Pliotographers
held a print exhibit entertainment and reception at the Hotel Saint George, Brooklyn, on October 27th. The exhibit did the young society great credit and some very fine specimens of photographic work were on the walls. The entertainment was mostly musical. Mr. Lester B. Cardell, comet player ; Mr. Arthur B. Gimpel, violinist ; Mr. Geo. Decker, monogolist ; Mr. T. H Murtagh, mel- odist, and the well known Montauk Mandolin Club, all took part in the musicale. Mr. Walter G. Pierson president of the society made a brief address and was very much applauded. Dancing lasted until the small hours, when most of those present adjourned to the dining-room of the hotel for dinner. The en- tertainment was a success in every way, chiefly due to the hard working efforts of Mr. Louis C. Blancke and the committees. The society intends to hold another reception in February.
Miss Ida Hammer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. P. Hammer, of the Hammer D. P. Co., was married to Mr. Rudolph Hencke, Thursday evening, November 9th. 1899, at the home of the bride's parents, 2007 Sidney Street, Rev. Dr. J. Irvin. of the St. Paul Evangelist Church, officiating. The wedding ceremony was at- tended only by the immediate families of the bride and groom. The bride wore a becoming gown of white silk organdy, beautifully trimmed in lace, and pearl buckles. The parlors in which the ceremony took place were taste- fully decorated with white and yellow chrysanthemums, smilax and palms; following the ceremony, a dainty sup- per was served. Mr. Hencke is a well known contractor and builder of the south side. The young people go at once to housekeeping on Magnolia Avenue.
The wedding of Mr Hammer's daughter will soon be followed by another wedding in his family, as his son Mr. Hy. W. Hammer, assistant superintendent of the Hammer D. P. Co., will be married on Thanksgiving Day, November 30th, to Miss Katie Tietze, a well known young lady of South St. Louis. The young people will also go to housekeeping at once, and will reside on Nebraska Avenue. The wedding ceremony will be per- formed by the Rev Dr. J. Irvin, of the St. Paul Evange- list Church, at the home of the bride's mother, on Chip- pewa Street.
harmony with the subject. The method so much in vogue of dishing up odd material to make it resemble something that it is not, is a fault to be avoided, except, perhaps, by those who have sufficient knowledge to make such frauds successful, otherwise a total failure is the result. It is true that some of the most successful productions have been obtained by utilizing the first material that has come handy, but then those who have been able to do such things may have been many years Continually at similar work, their knowledge and long practice enabling them to quickly judge what the final result will be.
The primary consideration with all backgrounds is their color, and if we keep in mind how colors will pho- tograph and what tone we may expect, it is a great help. Tints are more helpful to the worker than heavy colors. White never looks well, and black, although suitable for some subjects, is very liable to absorb too much light. Brown papers of different shades form excellent mate- rial, being both cheap and durable, and will, with care, give us all the results that are obtainable with prepared gra)rs. It can be damped, and, while moist, stretched upon a light frame- work with glue, and when dry will be found to be quite tight and free from creases. If a g^ay background is required, a good composition can be made by mixing whiting with size solution, and adding a small portion of lampblack, until the desired tint has been arrived at, and coating the paper by means of a large brush, and allowing it to dry. Some amount of skill in the use of the brush is necessary to turn out shaded backgrounds, but fair results may be obtained by light- ing or arranging them so that the light may not evenly illuminate them. Curving them is another method, but not very much in vogue.
In using the background, care should be taken, espe- cially with material that has a grain, to be sure and have it out of focus, and to ensure this, the object that is to be photographed should be rather at a distance than near. This means that good-sized backgrounds are necessary, and if it is desirable to join up, arrange your camera so that the join does not interfere with the result.
A brick wall is a most awkward thing to deal with, and may be covered up with a blanket, made fast with string to a couple of nails driven into the wall, and weighted at the bottom to get the sheet as free from creases as possible.
Rustic backgrounds are unsatisfactory when made up, but if recourse can be had to an old doorway, or, in fact^ perfectly natural rustic surroundings, very pleasant effects may sometimes be obtained. A good figure picture is sometimes entirely spoilt by bad surroundings, and this is one of the chief, and may seem at times one of the hardest things to avoid. And not only is this so with photography, but artists make similar mistakes, and in- stances could be pointed out where otherwise good pic- tures have been ruined. Oversight in one simple thing, that a passing glance of the casual observer might not notice, may cause a picture to be entirely untrue, if not absurd in the extreme.
In an article on Backgrounds Harry D. Gower says: To introduce a background with proper effect is almost a study in itself, and, if properties of any sort be included, they should be of such a nature as to be as un- obtrusive as po.ssible, but should at the same time be in
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\ process ^ork ^
THE MECHANICAL HAI.F-TONE.
BY M. LAMONT BROWN, BOSTON, U. S. A.
N a former article* I tried to show that notwithstanding the introduction of mechan- ical methods in art, the de- mand for what is beautiful by people in general has not grown less in modem times as compared to former times, and that whatever in art ap- peals to a love of the beautiful will in the long run prevail over that which is common- place or ugly ; furthermore, that we cannot rely on any picture-making machine, however perfect, to take the place of the artist, or to produce pic- tures that are artistic unless manipulated by an operator who is an artist. The application of these considerations to photo-engraving will, I believe, enable us to get at the conditions upon which success will depend in this class of work. I am not concerned in upholding that all pic- ture-making is necessarily intrinsically artistic, or that the engraver in virtue of his calling is an artist rather than a craftsman. But we can at least say that all the arts depend upon crafts- manship, and that the artist who is the best equipped is the one who has most thoroughly mastered the technique of his chosen art. So that whatever place we may choose to assign to re- productive engraving among the fine arts, if it is to be so included, we must agree that the con- ditions under which the engraver does his work make it most imperative that he should be a thorough craftsman, and these conditions inhere in the manner in which his work appears before the public. Since engravings are, as a rule, printed by machinery from electrotypes which are also mechanically produced, it follows that the engraver, in addition to knowing how to use his materials to obtain a certain effect, must also work with a view to a certain kind of print-
♦ ** Facts versus Art,'' Process Year Book, 18^8.
ing, and endeavor to produce an engraving that shall electrotype well and print clean and brilliant. For an engraving may be good from an artistic point of view and yet entirely worth- less to the parties who are paying for it, pro- vided it cannot be printed in the book or maga- zine for which it was designed.
In photo-engraving, and more particularly in regard to the half-tone, the value of thorough craftsmanship cannot be over-estimated. The great bulk of such work is and must continue to be of the kind which is mechanically perfected. The engraved half-tone so called is not in great demand at present except in certain quarters, and the scarcity of engravers will continue to preclude the possibility of any very extended improvement in this direction. The men who are engaged in engraving on half-tones are all wood-engravers, and, since no one is learning wood-engraving to-day, the supply must cease with the present generation. If for no other reason, then, it seems evident that the engraved half-tone will continue to occupy a relatively small part of the field. If hand- work is to sur- vive in relief engraving it must go back to wood, where it rightly belongs, and it may be said in passing that there are not wanting evi- dences that such a movement is already in- augurated. For our present purpose, then, we will take it for granted that the future success of the half-tone will be along the lines of me- chanical perfection, and that the process man will have to rely on himself and his own meth- ods and formulas to produce the results he is aiming at. But, it may be asked, what more can be accomplished mechanically than has been already attained ? Have we not the most per- fect screens that skill can produce ? Have we any reason to suppose that in the future lenses will be more accurate or chemicals more re- liable ? The probable* solution of the problem will not so much consist in further perfecting the appliances as in educating the men who use them to do so more intelligently. Much may be done by mechanical means to produce a picture that may have some claim to being considered
Digitized by
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Process Work
[January
as a work of art, but it should be the result of an intelligent effort in this direction, for at the low prices which have obtained in mechanical engraving, a man cannot afford to rely on " flukes " obtained by any rule of thumb. Many subjects can be adequately reproduced in relief suitable for printing in a form with type by half-tones perfected mechanically. Unsuitable subjects should not be thus undertaken. Pro- cess workers are learning to discriminate in this particular, for it is surely bad business for a man to promise more than he can perform. An establishment having a reputation of turn- ing out work of uniform excellence will get the most business and make the most money. But such a reputation cannot be established if the soliciting agent or the manager use no judg- ment about the kind of copy accepted. '* The tools to him who can use them," as some one has well said, but in addition to knowing what you can do by a certain method, it is also necessary to keep in mind the imitations of that method.
What seems to be lacking in most process work is the distinction that belongs to indi- viduality. It is commonplace, and all looks alike. Of course that is the tendency with the machine-made article of any description. But would it not be possible for the operator in a process plant to infuse some art into his work, provided he were at all artistic ? I know of at least one such establishment where not only the photographers, but also the other departments, are dominated throughout by a spirit of devo- tion to the artistic point of view. It has estab- lished and maintained a reputation which en- ables it to demand and obtain prices far beyond those which any association or combination could effect. The negative in that establish- ment is made to suit the original. The hand engraving, for which they are famous and in which they were pioneers, is something more than the conventional " wood-cut finish " resorted to to retrieve the failures of the photographers. On the contrary, it is the photographer who makes his half-tone negative to suit the subse- quent manipulation of the plate. If a plate is to be perfected mechanically, that involves one kind of a negative ; but if it is to be engraved by hand, that means a negative of an entirely
different structure. And that is what I mean by working from an artistic point of view. First, be able to see your original as it is, its distinguishing characteristics; then determine what you are to aim at in making a negative; and, finally, be able to succeed. That seems so tnte as one is writing it, that one wonders how anyone could go to work in any other way. While it would, perhaps, be difficult to find another such instance as this of an artistic spirit dominating a whole establishment, there is some possibility of findmg photographers who are artistic, and who have had artistic training, and that would be a beginning in the right direction. For artistic training should be regarded as equally important with the other technical training if we are proposing to under- take the better class of work. One trouble is that many very sincere and worthy people regard art as an evidence of decadence. What- ever concessions they arc forced to yield to such artistic standards as are in vogue, are made grudgingly and with many mental reser- vations. Such people feel that something is demanded of them, and when a half-tone is not considered satisfactory they commence tinker- ing at it without knowing why or wherefore, and as a result, the last state of many a half- tone is infinitely worse than the first. Much better a plate that is frankly mechanical than a half-tone that has lost the qualities which gave it value for truthfulness and soundness of structure, and has, through a misdirected zeal to "do something," been tortured into a hope- less mess of scratchy lines and muddy tones. No ! Let us not deceive ourselves. Art in half- tones or any other medium whatever, means something quite the reverse of any half-way measures of experimental tinkering. Begin at the foundation ; be a thorough master of your medium of expression and work within the limits of that medium. Photography is a me- chanical method of producing effects of light and shade, and as such it must succeed or fail. The half, tone is based on photography, and the negative is the keystone of the arch which sup- ports the whole structure, and its future success in any general and comprehensive estimate must be subject to the same conditions as pho- tography.— Penrose's Pictorial Annual, i8g^.
Digitized by
. Vol. XXXII.
•^OUR OOla.ARS PER ANNlffll.
FEBRUARY, >-,
SINQL
PHOTOGRAPH!
TIAK
An-Illustr^ '/vonthly-^ga devoted-to-ti
interests- 0 Artistics^Scieni
^ FHOTOGRAP]
s^Hf^n
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THE-PHOTOGRAPHIC-TIMES-PUBLIS
ASSOCIATION*60*abd*62*EASW1™*STaNEW
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CONTENTS
Frontispiece— Snow Foreground Study— By Alfred
Steielitz opposite 49
Practical Pin-hole Photography— By Osborne I. Yel-
lott — Illustrated 49
The Edge of the Woods— By Osborne I. Yellott—
Illustration 51
Mother and Child — By Mrs. K&ebier — Illustration. . 52 The Farm-House— By Osborne I. Yellott— Illustra- tion 53
In a Chinese Fishing Village with a Hand Camera —
Bjr Geo. D. Me^er — Illustrated 54
Watching the Boatmen — By Geo. C. Meeker — Illus- tration 54
The Village Shrine— By Geo. C. Meeker— Illustra- tion ., 55
The Readers— By Clarence H. White — Illustration. . 57 A Bit of the Water Front— By Geo. C. Meeker- Illustration 58
The New York Camera Club— By Sadakichi Hart-
mann 59
The Dance— By R. £ickemeyer« Jr. — Illustration... 59 The Lantern Sude as an Illustrator— By L. P. Grata-
cap — Illustrated 62
Silvenng Albumen Paper — By Henry Clay Price. ... 63 An Enquiry into the Early History of Photography. 64
Salambo — By Francis B. Johnson — Illustration 65
Illustration — By Arthur A. Gleason 67
Illustration— By Mrs. Myra A. Wiggins , . 68
Bumt-in Photographs on Window Glasses and Glass
Painting— By P. C. Duchochois 69
Chinese Fisnermen Unloading Boat — By Geo. C.
Meeker— Illustration 69
Lantern-Slide Making for Beginners— By ** Primrose Hill"— Illustrated , 70
In the Lutschen-Thal— By Wm. D. Murphy— Illus- tration 71
Odalisque— By Chas. I. Berg— Illu^twrtion 72
Looking Down the Hill. By B. W. Brinton— ^Illustra- tion 74
Looking From the Bridge— By B. W. Brinton— Illus- tration 74
Comparative Developing Formulse^By Ulysses J.
Orr 75
Illustration— By Emma Famsworth 76
Illustration— By Daniel E. Bellows 77
Indian Girl— By Joseph T. Keiley— Illustration 78
A New Emulsion— By Max. Toch 79
Alfred Steiglitz— By Gertrude KSsebier— Illustra- tion 79
Suggestions on Pictorial Composition — By J. A.
Gallagher 80
A Chance Encounter— By David H. Talmadge 81
Illustration— By A. A. Whitmore 81
A Fawn— By Herbert A. Hess- Illustration 82
Our Monthly Digest 83
Illustration— By Edgar Felloes 85
** A Humorous Moment" — By F. C. Green— Illus-
tration * 87
South African Natives— By Walter Sprange— Illus- tration , 88
Cape Town— By Walter Sprange— Illustrlrtion 89
Editorial Notes 90
Photograph ic Manufacturers* Association of AMerica, 91
Obituary— Benjamin French • . . . 92
Facts About the Combine 93
The Editor's Table ^
The Photographic Times Record ^
1
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ARE THUS ABSOLUTELY INDEPENDENT
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60 & 62 East Eleventh Street, New York,
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Vol. XXXII.
FEBRUARY, 1900.
No. 2.
PRACTICAL PIN-HOLE PHOTOGRAPHY.
BY OSBORNE I. YELLOTT.
N taking up the sub- ject of pin-hole pho- tography, I wish it distinctly understood that I do not speak as an authority, as I confess to knowing little or nothing about the subject in its more advanced aspects, if such there be. In contemplating making some experi- ments along that line, two things oc- curred to me : first, that no special ap- paratus was neces- sary for the work, and second, that the matter of exposures was subject to the same rules as in the case of the ordinary single or double lens. A single afternoon's experiments upon those two theories, if so they may be called, convinced me that they were correct. In order that others may see what one can do at a first attempt at pin-hole photography, I have chosen to illustrate this article with the re- sults of my own first efforts, and to give in de- tail exactly how those results were obtained. It is then for the reader, as it was for me, to do better in subsequent attempts.
First, then, as to my two theories. Some writers, notably M. Jules Combe, the French en-
thusiast, claim that in order to obtain the max- imum amount of definition in the pin-hole im- age, the diameter of the pin-hole must bear a certain definite relation to the distance of the pin-hole from the sensitive plate. Such being the case, instructions are given for the con- struction of a more or less simple form of ap- paratus in which that relation is carried out. Personally, I, for reasons, preferred to disre- gard M. Combe's requirements, and am there- fore satisfied that my pin-hole images do not contain the maximum amount of definition. But I do manage to get all the definition I want, and in addition get certain other advantages which the specially constructed apparatus in ' generally approved form does not give.
My apparatus consists of my favorite 5x7 long-bellows camera and two extra lens-boards. Over the opening of one of these I pasted a piece of stiff black paper, through the center of which I ran an ordinary pin. Upon measuring the diameter of this pin with a pair of dividers and a rule I found that the opening was one- thirtieth of an inch in diameter. The other lens-board contained a smaller hole, this being made with a very small needle and found to be one-ninetieth of an inch in diameter. The first is for use where time is an object and only a fair degree of definition is required. The other is used where finer definition is required, though inasmuch as it requires nine times the expos- ure of the former, I must say that I seldom find it a necessary adjunct to my outfit. More satisf ?
Copyright, 1899, by The Scovill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N Y., Post Offir
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Practical Pin-Hole Photography
[February
tory pin-holes can no doubt be made through a small sheet of metal, but for first experiments the method I have referred to will be found perfectly satisfactory. With this outfit I have a pin-hole camera with rising and falling front, double swing-back, extension bellows, tripod- screw-plate, and all the other advantages which will occur to one if he attempts to use a home- made one. The focal lengths of my "lenses" range from one inch to twenty, they are wide- angle or narrow-angle at pleasure, achromatic, rectilinear, of enormous covering power, render a flat field, and, subject to their own peculiar limitations, are anastigmatic. In addition to the camera and "lenses" I found it necessary to have a view- meter. This was made the size of the plate, and its use will be explained later.
My theory was that this outfit would make pin-hole photographs. My other theory, as stated, was that the matter of exposures was subject to the same rules as in the case of ordi- nary lenses. With the permission of my more advanced readers, I will lead up to this latter point. With an ordinary lens, the length of ex- posure depends upon the relation of the size of the stop-opening to the focal length of the lens. As we know that the areas of circles are pro- portionate to the squares of their diameters, we know that the area of a stop-opening one inch in diameter is four times as great as the area of a stop-opening one-half inch in diameter, and the use of the latter stop will therefore require four times the exposure required by the use of the former. But we also know that the strength of light in different planes varies inversely with the squares of the distance of such planes from the light source. Thus regarding the aperture of the lens in a camera as the light source, we know that a plate sixteen inches from such aperture will require four times the exposure required for a plate only eight inches from that aperture, since the square of i6, 256, is four times the square of 8, 64. In order to save end- less calculations, stops or diaphragms of certain standard sizes have been adopted by lens- makers, each stop bearing some relation, de- finite or indefinite, to every other stop. The two systems most generally in use are the * f/" or "focal-lengths" and the "uniform" systems. In the former the number of the stop is the re- lation which, roughly speaking, the diameter of that stop bears to the focal-length of the lens in use : thus the f/8 stop is the f/8 because its diameter is one-eighth the focal length of lens. But while the f/ stops bear certain
fixed relations to each other, those relations are not simple enough, and the uniform system was devised to take its place for general use. In both of these systems each stop, as ordinarily numbered, requires double the exposure re- quired by the one immediately preceding it, but while the f/5.6 stop requires double the ex- posure of the f/4 stop, and the f/i6 stop sixteen times the exposure, the relations are not as readily seen as in the other, where you know the No 2 stop (which is the same as the f/5. 6 in the other system) requires double the exposure of the No I stop, and the No. 16 sixteen times the exposure of the No. i, eight times of the No. 2, four times of the No. 4 and twice the exposure of No 8. Both of these systems must be understood in order to determine definitely the exposure required in the use of a pin-hole for a lens. Thus by dividing the distance of the pin-hole from the plate by the diameter of the pin-hole itself we get the f/ value of the pin- hole, but the stop number thus ascertained would be so high up in the scale that it would be entirely unfamiliar to us, and, moreover, it would change every time we moved the plate nearer to or farther from the light-source. Thus again, we could compare the square of the diameter of our pin-hole with the square of the diameter of a stop whose use was familiar to us, but, as will obviously appear, such a calculation would be of service onl)" where we are using the pin-hole with the same focal-length, let us say, as was used with such stop. It, therefore, be- comes necessary to have some plan by which, knowing the diameter of our pin-hole and the distance from it to the plate, we can tell at a glance just how much longer exposure will be re- quired than would be required by a stop the correct exposure for which we know.
In order to simplify the matter as much as possible, I have adapted and extended a well- known table showing the comparative values of the various stops under the two systems, and in view of what has been said on the subject, its use will be found exceedingly simple. The first column contains the f/ system numbers and the second those of the Uniform System, which I may say here is the system in use with nearly all the cameras made by the dealers of this country. The stop f/5 corresponds to No. I. 5, and from there on the alternate stops in each column are not scientifically accurate, nor are they found in either system as ordinarily tabulated, but they are near enough for all practical purposes and are placed in this table
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Practical Pin-Hole Photography
51
in order that the worker may be saved all pos- sible calculations for himself when in the field. If, with a pin-hole of one-ninetieth of an inch a bellows of greater length than eight inches is to be used, it will be found necessary to carry this table still farther, but that anyone can do for himself.
f/4...
f/5... f/5. 6. f/7... f/8 . f/io . f/ii.. f/14.. f/i6. . f/20 .
f/23 . f/28..
f/32.. f/39.. f/45.. f/56..
.No.
I I. 2 3 4 6 8
12 16 24 32 48
64 96
138
192
f/64 . f/78 . f'/go. . f/iii. f/128. f/156
f/l8T.
f/222
f/256. f/312 f/362. f/444.
f/512.
f/t)24.
f/724.
.No.
256
384
512
768
1024
1536
2048
3072
4096
6144
8192
12288
16384
24576
32768
In order to use this table it is only necessary to know the diameter of the pin-hole in use and the distance from the plate at which it is to be used. Dividing the lat- ter by the former we get the f/ val- ue of the pin hole. Looking at the table we find the relative value of this f /stop accord- ing to the uniform system. Knowing what exposure would be requir- ed with our ordin- ary lens with a certain stopof the uniform system, we next divide the number of that stop into the uniform system number of the pin-hole and find how many times that exposure the pin hole requires. Suppose, for ex- ample, we are to take a picture which with the No. 8 or f/i I stop would require one
THC CDOC OPTHC WOODS.
Pin-Hole Photograph.
second exposure, and we want to take the pin- hole picture with the camera racked out to eight and one-half inches. The diameter of our pin- hole is one-thirtieth of an inch. Dividing the focal-length, eight and a half inches, by the diameter of the pin hole, one-thirtieth of an inch, we find that the f/ value of the pin-hole is 255 Referring to the table we find that the F/256 stop is equivalent to the No. 4096 of the uniform system, which in turn will require 512 times the exposure of the No. 8 stop, (4096 divided by 8 equals 512.) As the No. 8 or f/ii stop w^ould have required one second exposure, our f/256 stop will therefore require 512 seconds or eight and a half minutes But if we had used the pin-hole six inches from the plate its f/ value would then have been 180 (six divided by one-thirtieth makes 180), and it would have required but four and a quarter minutes, exposure.
Loaded with these theories, some Cramer Inst.
Iso. plates, an ex- posure meter and the rest of the out- fit described, I started out one afternoon to take some pin-hole pictures. I first set my camera up, and as only the very highest lights were visible on the ground-glass it was necessary to use the view- meter, which was a sheet of glass 5x7 in size bound with binding strips. This I held at the top of the lens-board, with my eye in the plane of the plate. As the bellows was racked back and forth,more or less of the view appeared, and I finally set the front at the point at which I had the desired view. Care was taken,
Osborne I. Yeiloit.
Digitized by
MOTHER AND CHILD.
Mrs. Kdsebier.
The Camera Club, New York.
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Pradicat Pin-Hole Photography
53
Osborne I. Yeltott.
Pin-Hole Photograph.
of course, to hold my eye at the proper level, comparison being made from time to time with the sky-line on the ground glass. In this case I racked the camera out to ten inches, and using the pin-hole one-thirtieth of an inch in diameter, I found that my stop was f/300. My exposure meter, the Wynne's, provided for ex- posures with stops as small as f/ 362, so I did not have to resort to the table, which, how- ever, gave the same result. The meter told me that the proper exposure for the shadows at f/300 was about five minutes. I gave it five and subsequent development of the plate showed that the exposure had been correct.
My next picture, **The Edge of the Woods," I took with the bellows racked out to seven inches, as I could not get it from a point more distant. My stop was now f /2 10 and the picture required but two and a half minutes' exposure. This picture I subsequently enlarged from 5x7 to 8x10 on Royal Bromide paper, toned it to sepia in the cold hypo and alum bath, and it was hung in the Philadelphia Photographic Salon of 1899. It was characterized by a writer in the Collector and Art Critic as an example of "happy focusing" and I myself attribute its success to the fact that it was taken by means of the pin- hole instead of a lens. The plate as will be seen, is somewhat over-developed, but neither over — nor under — exposed, the negative itself showing full detail in what may appear in the reproduction to be unduly deep shadows. My next, which was much the same kind of a pic-
ture, was taken with f/240 stop by racking the bellows out to eight inches, and required three and a half minutes. These pictures would all have required about one-half a second exposure with the No. 8 stop and ordinary lens. I next essayed to take some clouds, and as they were taken with two seconds' exposure, particulars may be interesting. The clouds were in the east, and the afternoon sun consequently gave them the maximum of light. The paper in the actinometer colored in two seconds I was us- ing Cramer Inst. Iso. plates with a speed value of f/90, and for ordinary landscape 1/32 of a second would have sufficed with the No. 8 stop. I racked the camera out to 10 inches and hence my one-thirtieth of an inch pin-hole was now f/300. According to the meter that stop would have required about twenty -two seconds for or- dinary landscape, disregarding the shadows, but as clouds require but one-twelfth the ex- posure of ordinary landscape I saw that two seconds would be all that was necessary. Re- ference to the table will show that this exposure was about right, but I must say that after hav- ing just given five minutes to a view I was a little surprised to see that results could be got- with only two seconds exposure. This neg- ative I have printed in the next scene, *'The Farm-House," which was taken with the bel- lows racked out to thirteen inches. As the sun was full on this view and it was about five hun- dred yards off, I exposed in this case for the high lights instead of for the shadows as in
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In d Chinese Fishing Village
[February
the other cases, and gave it but thirty seconds. The pictures will, I think prove the correct- ness of my theories as to calculating with cer- tainty for correct exposures. To test them more accurately I exposed two plates on the same view, one with the lens and the other with the pin- hole, using the above table, and developing both plates in the same tray. They both gained the same density in the high-lights in the same length of time, and development was completed simultaneously, although as was to be expected there was a massing of the lights and shadows in the pin-hole plate not to be found to the same extent in the other. And while it is true that the use of such very small apertures allows considerable latitude in the
matter of exposure, as is true in the case of the ordinary lens, yet there can be no ques- tion that a correct exposure in pin-hole photog- raphy is as important as in any other case.
The originals of my pictures in B B platino- type contain a charm which is shared by no other work I have ever done, and these experi- ments showed me conclusively the practical utility of the pin-hole in getting certain classes of views which, taken with the ordinary lens, would have had nothing to recommend them. Starting out with the idea that I was entering into a bit of child's play, I have therefore come to have the highest respect for the process, and think I can foresee the time when that opinion will be shared by many.
IN A CHINESE FISHING VILLAGE WITH A HAND CAMERA.
BY GEO. C. MEEKER.
ON THE SOUTHERN coast of Mon- k terey Bay is located the little I town of Monterey, formerly the Mexican capital of California. Up to fifteen or twenty years ago it was a typical Mexican town, representing the early civilization of the State. The march of modem improvement has almost obliterated its former quaintness, but here and there an old adobe building, or wall with its coping of mission tiles, or some old adobe ruin serves to remind one of its original character.
About three miles west of Monterey is located the delightful and entirely modem sea- side resort of Pacific Grove, with its macadam- ized streets, and cozy cottages with their pretty gardens and .— -:--^ flowers in great profusion, re- presenting the present civili- zation of California. Here the Stanford University has its marine laboratory and holds some of its Summer schools, and university professors and students are constantly in evi- dence Here, in July, the Chau- tauqua Assembly holds its sessions, followed later by var- ious schools of methods, and, in September, by the Confer- ence of the M. E. Church.
It was my good fortune to spend my last summer vacation ^^^cnma the .oatmcn.
at this delightful place in company with three artist friends. About midway between here and the old town of Monterey, is located a very picturesque little Chinese fishing village, repre- senting a civilization older by far than that of the Mexican settlers of early California. This little village, commonly called China Town, was our objective point for a partof our stay. All of the artists had preceded me in their arrival from one to three weeks, and two of them had spent most of their time sketching its pic- turesque boats and buildings, but they had been unable to get many figures, as Chinamen are not fond of being sketched. One of them, who was a figure painter, was very enthusiastic
Copyright^ iSqg^ by Geo. C. Meeker.
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In a, Chinese Fishing Village
55
THC VILLAOt SHIIINC.
G€o. C. Meeker.
over the many finely arranged groups and natural poses that he was constantly seeing, but unable to get. He, therefore, urged me to go over with them and see what could be done with a hand camera As this class of subject was what I wanted, the invitation was very gladly accepted.
The village is located on a little bay or cove, with a sandy beach, the ground rising around it on the other three sides, but particularly on the west, whpre there is quite a hill terminating on the north in a high rocky point, commonly called China Point. As we approached the village from the west, we first came to a small group of buildings standing by themselves, and between them and the main village the beach was covered with fishing boats, while beyond could be seen the water front of the place with its balconies and scaffoldings forming a very pleasing sky line. The village boasts of but one narrow street which runs through the place parallel to the beach, with the houses on each side, all cheap frame buildings, mostly one story, their floors one or two steps above the grade. The rear portions of all those on the water side are built up on piles above the rocks and sand of the beach. About in the center of the village the street has an offset of
a little more than its width, and an opening on the water side leads down to the beach. About midway between this offset and its eastern end there is an open space where is located the Joss House or Shrine.
On the day of my first visit I came upon one of the artists sitting in a boat upon the beach busily at work, while just before us a man in fisherman's garb had just come in from a sail upon the bay and was working his boat up on the beach. My artist friend called my attention to this man and said he was one of the leading naturalists of the country. A few minutes later I was introduced to Prof. L. L Dyche, of the University of Kansas, who has collected for his university museum one of the finest collections of North American mammals in the world. He was here collecting sea birds, and we had many pleasant chats with him during our stay.
One of the industries of the place is the catching and drying of squids. These are caught by means of fire boats, boats somewhat smaller than the fishing boats, each provided with an iron fire-basket hung over the side by a sort of crane, and a supply of wood. These boats are taken out upon the bay at night, each accompanied by two fishing boats. The light from the fire attracts the squids and they are
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In d Chinese Fishing Village
[February
gathered in by the nets of the fishing boats on either side. The squids used for food are care- fully cleaned and dried on slat frames, but the larger portion of them are carried to the hill west of the village, where they are spread upon the ground and thoroughly dried in the sun. They are then raked together, packed in large bales, and shipped to China to be made into high class fertilizers used in the culture of choice plants.
Another industry is catching fish for market. The boats engaged in this work go out very early in the morning, and from daylight to the middle of the forenoon a group of sail may be seen several miles out upon the waters of the bay. About ten o'clock they begin to return, those belonging to the Portuguese fishermen sailing past the cove to the wharf at Monterey, a mile or two farther east. As soon as one of the Chinese boats is seen approaching, there is a stir among some of the men on shore, and soon an eager group is gathered on the beach. As the boat draws nearer the excitement increases, and as soon as it is beached all gather around it eager to learn the result of the catch. The fish are put in baskets and carried away. Two of the fishermen run a pole, or an oar, through two rope loops at the bow of the boat; one or two others do the same at the stem, and the boat is then carried upon their shoulders up the beach beyond the reach of the tide. The whole operation of landing, unloading, and carrying up the boat occupies but a few min- utes, and one must be on the alert in order to catch the best groupings.
Among one of the groups watching the land- ing of a boat, was a little Chinese boy who seemed very desirous of being put into it. The Chinaman who seemed to have charge of him carried him out and placed him in the bow, but on seeing my hand camera he immediately turned and hurriedly carried him back up the beach out of harm's way. Fortunately for me, however, the little fellow was no sooner set free than he ran back to the boat and went on record as he did so. A little later the little chap stood with his back toward me, his shoes upon the sand in front of him, intently watching the fishermen preparing to carry the boat up the beach. Figures and background combined to make a fine composition which was promptly recorded.
Later, as we were sitting at the eastern end of the beach waiting for other boats to come in, a Japanese fish merchant came by with his
cheery greeting. He spoke very good English and chatted with us for a few minutes, having previously made the acquaintance of the artist. He had come to meet one of his fishing boats, and was soon joined by his wife. They walked off a little distance from us and he seated himself upon the bottom of an upturned boat, while his wife stood in front of him, her light colored calico dress standing out strongly against the dark background of one of the buildings. Sev- eral men were standing and squatting near in unconscious positions. It was but the work of a moment to get within range and secure the picture. Soon the fishing boat was seen at the entrance of the bay. It was considerably larger than those we had seen used by the Chinese, and was soon anchored to a buoy. The load was then transferred to a smaller boat and brought ashore, where it was put into boxes. Several of the party then took hold of the painter, others on each side of the boat grasped the gunwale, a roller was placed under the bow, and in this way the boat was soon taken up beyond the reach of the tide, and not as a dead weight carried upon poles resting upon the shoulders of three or four men, as was done by the Chinese fishermen. This gives an illustra- tion of some of che different characteristics of the two nationalities. The Chinese are inclined to do things in the most primitive and laborious manner, while the Japanese are more ingenious and more ready to adopt labor-saving ap- pliances.
One morning as I was walking through the village, I came upon two of our artists, one on either side of the street, busily engaged in making sketches of tlie Shrine, or Joss House, and around each was a group of interested spectators. Those gathered around the artist on the sunny side of the street were particu- larly well grouped and lighted, each man hav- ing a different and at the same time a charac- teristic pose, while the buildings gave a very artistically arranged and picturesque back- ground. The first glance showed this to be a subject too good to be lost, and very quietly getting within the proper distance of the group the button was pressed and it was secured. The result is the picture called " The Connois- seurs."
The Chinese have their share of natural curi- osity and seemed to enjoy watching the artists work, and occasionally passed remarks between each other, supposedly complimentary of the sketches. While averse to being sketched
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In a Chinese Fishing Village
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A BIT OP THC WATER FRONT.
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themselves, they thought it a good joke if some other Chinaman got in the artist's view and seemed in danger of being included in the sketch.
The artists had worked around the place so long that they had made the acquaintance of some of the leading men, and left their sketch- ing outfits at the village store every night. The Chinamen were very friendly and seemed much interested in the sketches, and while not willing to be included in them themselves, had no objections to the buildings being sketched or photographed. " House no care," they would say. They are, however, superstitious about being photographed themselves, thinking that if you have their picture you have a power over them for evil entirely beyond their control.
My experience showed that it is better to take them when they are entirely unconscious of it; and this, as a rule, is the only way to secure good results in this branch of photog- raphy. One must sometimes wait long and patiently for the best groupings and poses, and, at the same time, be able instantly to recognize and ready to take a good thing. To do this requires some knowledge of composition, as well as much patient waiting. But the results amply repay one for the trouble; for, in place of the poorly arranged and stiffly posed groups and figures so often seen in photographs, we obtain perfectly natural and artistic grouping and posing ; and, instead of mere commonplace photographs, we have pictures that have a value for their artistic merit.
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THt DANCE.
Copyright^ mSqq, R. Eickemeyer^ Jr.
The Camera Club, New York.
THE NEW YORK CAMERA CLUB.
BY SADAKICHI HARTMANN.
THERE was a time, idyllic and serene, in my life when I was ignorant of the existence of such a thing as artistic photography, when I was only acquainted with the mechan- ical industry of the professional photographer, dignified by the name of portrait. Alas, those days are far remote now. One day I happened to meet Mr. William Murray, at that time one of the pillars of the Society of Amateur Photographers, who presented me with the admission card for some photographic exhibition. I went, and from that day on I have wielded my pen also as a critic of pho- tography as well as of art
I recognized at once that like the majority of the public, I had labored under a considerable misconception, and that photography appeared to have some personal and individual aspects, absolutely apart from mechanical considera- tions. I resolved to look into the matter more seriously. At that time New York had two
photographic clubs, the Society of Amateur Photographers on Thirty-eighth street (incor- porated 1884) and the New York Camera Club on Fifth avenue (incorporated about 1889). I had to become acquainted with the efforts of these two institutions, as the exhibition men- tioned was chiefly devoted to foreign produc- tions, and gave me no idea whatever of the ability of home talent.
I found both societies as good as dead. There was no vitality in them. Photography was merely a pastime to them, and all they had to show were innumerable portraits, transcripts of nature, views, and snapshots such as is in the power of almost any one to produce. Of course there were some men with higher aims, whose work showed evidences of personal influence and feeling, but they worked in obscurity, and had no opportunity to come to the front. Also the financial condition of the two clubs, as I have often heard it rumored, was none of the best.
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Then in 1896 came a sudden change, the two clubs consolidated, and from the ashes of two societies (that should have been cremated long before) rose, phcenix-like, the Camera Club. How this was brought about is far beyond the scope and aim of this article. I am neither the historian of the club nor was I in any way con- nected with it when this metamorphosis took place. All what I know is that it took place, and that when about three years ago I was called upon to write an article on artistic pho- tography for the Staats-Zeitungy I found the Camera Club full fledged and well established, although still in its old quarters on Thirty- eighth street.
I met my old friend Mr. Murray as active at his desk as ever. I told him the purpose of my visit, and received the answer, **Wait, till Mr. Stieglitz comes;** and, strange to say, nearly all the questions for information that I put to various members of the club were answered in the same way: "Mr. Stieglitz will soon be here,** or "Mr. Stieglitz will tell you all about it.** Why, I thought, this Mr. Stieglitz must be a most extraordinary person, he must be another Charles Morice. When I was in Paris last and mixed with the Symbolist crowd, I often heard a special school of literature mentioned by the name "Les Poetes Frangais.** I wished to be introduced into this circle and found to my great astonishment that it consisted only of one man, Monsieur Charles Morice. And not only during my first visit to the Camera Club but often since, it has seemed to me that artistic photography, the Camera Club, and Alfred Stieglitz were only three different names for one and the same thing.
When Mr. vStieglitz appeared on the scene, I was agreeably surprised. I had before me a man of the world of wide culture, very modest withal, but of rare diplomacy, an enthusiast to such a degree that even his voice changes its keynote as soon as he begins to talk of photography. I am not given much to eulogies of one man, but I am a hero worshipper in the truest sense. Any man who asserts himself in a cer- tain vocation of life has my fullest admiration. There may be hundreds of amateur photo- graphers in New York who do their very best to advance the art of Daguerre, but it would be absolutely foolish to deny that artistic photog- raphy in America would not have reached its present standard of perfection without Mr. Stieglitz.
He has, perhaps, been prominent at exhibi-
tions for a larger period than any other living American photographer, and a persistent advo- cate upon the higher claims which have been made for photography. More than that, he has been a teacher to whom a great many owe whatever position they may hold to-day. " Give to Caesar, what Caesar*s is.** The New York Camera Club is to-day the leading photographic club ot the States, whose nfluence is most powerful and far felt. Four conditions have made it so:
r. The monthly public exhibitions.
2. The publication of the club organ, "Camera Notes.**
3. The equipment of the new club-rooms at 3 West 29th Street.
4. The object of the club, which is, as can be read in the constitution, the cultivation and ad- vancement of the science and art of photog- raphy.
The exhibitions as they are held at present at the Camera Club, mostly "one man shows," can hardly be praised enough. They make us ac- quainted with the products of the best photog- raphers one after the other, without injuring the beauty of individual work with the maudlin productions of mediocrity. We do not get con- fused, as in the ordinary art exhibitions where good and bad are hung indiscriminately to- gether, and where it is most difficult, in the run of years, to form a clear decided opinion about the work of those men, one is interested in. In the Camera Club each month another photog- rapher displays his best and latest efforts, and the whole ensemble, the framing, the hanging as well as the prints themselves, tell at once the individuality of the man, may it be the scientific accuracy of an Eickemeyer, the artistic non- chalance of a Eugene, or the dignified frugality of a White. It is a great pity that these ex- hibitions are not more public, as they could do so much to instruct people about the aims and accomplishments of artistic photography; and dissociate their minds from the multifarious applications of a process which in its ordinary form has nothing but what is right associated with the cunning of opticians and chemists. Who visits the Camera Club exhibitions ? The members of the club and their friends, and a few outsiders who stray into them by chance, also now and then a newspaper critic. Although the recognition of these friends of the camera and an occasional criticism is valuable, the scarcity of attendance is hardly just to the exhibitors, who have worked perhaps for months
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and years to get their exhibits ready The large world knows nothing about the Camera Club exhibits, and probably does not care to, but they should certainly be recommended as a place to be visited by all lovers of pictorial art. Even the painter should find in it things which will interest him even if he remains still unwilling to grant it any very high distinction, but the number of artists I have seen at these exhibits, I could count on the fingers of one hand.
"Camera Notes" has helped to make the N. Y. Camera Club known in photographic circles all over the world. Dignified in appearance as it is, it cannot help but to attract attention to its publishers. It is the most ambitious club publication in existence; there is no art maga- zine in this country which could compete with the Camera Notes in its distinctive and peculiar make up. The pictures are reproduced in a manner that leaves but little room for fault- finding The letterpress, although not free of small imperfections, is on the whole satis- factory. The material, however, within the covers is very frugal and consequently open to criticism. The articles of a strictly technical and scientific character, of course, are in place, but as far as I can see the trend of the magazine, it is to initiate its readers in the ar- tistic possibilities of their art. In this it fails.
The aesthetic laws which rule photography have not yet been determined, what we need most therefore are decided opinions which en- deavor to solve this problem. It would be by far more profitable than the everlasting com- menting upon half a dozen men and women, and their more or less doubtful artistic quali- fications. An increase of volumes in the library, which is in a deplorable state, even to that extent that they make fun of it themselves, would undoubtedly prove beneficial. Also lectures on art subjects should be introduced while the individual efforts should, except in the case of masterpieces (and they are scarce), be analyzed by verbal criticism, as was practised at the private lantern slide exhibitions. I once witnessed such an ex- hibition. Mr. Stieglitz was the critic, seconded, I believe by Mr. Berg I never attended such a slaughter of artistic pretensions before; it was simply delightful to watch with what rapidity the critics discarded one picture after the other, and pointed out the technical faults and short- comings in composition, tonality, etc. It was too good a thing to last. The club members revolted against such what seemed to them un-
gracious treatment, and it is at present an open question whether these criticisms will be taken up again or not.
As a club the Camera Club deserves the en- dorsement of every amateur photographer. It sticks to its "object," it is a serious institution, without billiard-room, chafing-dishes and bar.
There is no favoritism, and the ** howling swell," thanks to his incompetence, has to take a back seat. It is preeminently a working club, that affords to its members vast opportunities to practise their hobby to their hearts* content. There they have all the appliances to facilitate the otherwise so dreary mechanical processes. A large, well equipped studio is at their dis- posal. Even baths and developers are fur- nished gratuitously. The entrance fee and an- nual dues are in the reach of all^-fifteen dollars entrance fee and twenty dollars annual dues, payable in two equal installments. To William D. Murphy, the president, and to Harry B. Reid, who for many years has sb unselfishly devoted himself to the secretarial and financial end, too much praise for the preseht welfare of the Club cannot be given.
These inducements make the club a very valuable institution to every amateur photog- rapher. The club has at present three hundred and forty members, including life, honorary, and non-resident members. Among them we find nearly all the leading representatives of the new movement. The critic, therefore, must fix his attention upon this body of men and women for any future developments in artistic photography. They all disclaim as much as possible the mechanical assistance from the work of the unintelligent camera, and ask more credit of what, in many cases, may fairly be termed creative power not dissimilar from that which gives to other graphic pro- cesses the character and name of art.
They have not yet asserted themselves suffi- ciently. Ninety-nine persons out of one hun- dred are not yet even familiar with the term "artistic photography," much Idss with its aspirations and aims. It seems to me as if the artistic enterprises of the Camera Club were managed on a too exclusive scale; their pub- lications as well as their exhibitions only reach the profession, not the public at large.
But there may be after all some wisdom in this exclusiveness while at present their efforts are strictly on the dignified line of art for art's sake, a quality which deserves unlimited praise in these mercenary days.
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^The Lantern Slide as an Instructor
[February
C. C. Langili.
THE LANTERN SLIDE AS AN INSTRUCTOR-
BY L. P GRATACAP.
THE use of the Stereopticon, which in less sophisticated days we old peo- ple knew only as the Magic Lantern, has sensibly extended. Its ap- plicability to the var}n'n^and various purposes of instruction, entertainment, de- monstration, and theatrical graphics has cer- tainly never before been so widely recognized. It directly concerns the photographer to chron- cle and stimulate this use. The reasons for this extension are easily assigned. Camera work by the introduction of portable cameras, the excellence of the dry plate, and the rapid and almost spontaneous results of crack develop- ers, has been made so much more simple that every aspiring tourist brings home pictures, and secures their reproduction in lantern slides with which either publicly or privately he creates a lecture.
On the other hand the public have sought in lectures a wider and easier approach to knowl- edge than through the more tedious, but prob- ably more certain and careful avenue of book study and hand demonstration. It is quite obvious, however, that in the measureless and delightful fields of geographical exploration the Lantern Slide offers unrivaled means of quick and pleasing impressions. The use of color has
also added its charm to the lantern slide while the ingenious composing taste of the lecturer may interweave flowers, natural products, social peculiarities, architecture and animal life, so that the colored panorama of views becomes in the highest degree stimulating and satisfactory.
Prof. Albert S. Bickmore has organized at the American Museum of Natural History a system of Public Instruction which now has become thoroughly established. Its growth from the first ephemeral means of a Eulascope for illus- tration, to a pair of electrical lanterns with double screens, has been gradual and persist- ently improving. To-day it has become a very striking exemplification of the educational uses of photography, as far as photography for such a purpose can be used. The lectures given by Prof. Bickmore have embraced a wide circle of topics, but naturally in travels the lantern slide finds its most adequate adaptation. The beauty of these increases.
The last season's work was amongst the astounding scenes of the volcanic areas of the Sandwich Islands. Mr. C. C. Langill accom- panied Prof. Bickmore, and made four hundred negatives. They were made on Hammer plates with a Goerz lens.
The effectiveness of these photographs should
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be estimated from the colored projections thrown on large screens (20 x 18 ft.) at the Lec- ture Hall of the American Museum.
It may be claimed that amongst the many de- signations of the age we live in, the appellation of the Age of Photography would not be inap- propriate. Accurate sun prints are replacing the necessarily imperfect work of the artist, and the world is being brought to our doors, as it were, throug-h the instrumentality of the camera. When to the inerrant pencil of the sun the lines of nature have been added by the artist, and the skilful projector enlarges them in light, there seems almost nothing lacking to an actual trans- ference of the spectator to the scene itself. Prof. Bickmore permits me to use three of the striking scenes he has brought back with him.
The lantern slide has also found in the elec- tric stereopticon an important adjunct. The strongest light seems required for slides made from *' snap " negatives, since these are often high contrast pictures. And when to the density of the transparency, is superadded the marking opacity of color, the need of a piercing intense light is even more apparent. The collodion or wet plate, it may be fairly claimed, gave a more manageable lantern slide than does to-day the dry plate. But with the new demand for a light proportionately stronger invention offers the electric arc. Mr. L. C. Laudy, of the Depart- ment of Public Instruction, has adapted and de- veloped an electric lamp to this purpose which skilfully operated seems to leave little or noth- ing to be desired. Mr. Laudy's experience and skill in this have been most marked.
In view of the opaque nature of some lantern slides and the ensuing difficulty of securing satisfactory projection, it would seem that over- exposure and a weak developer would give softer and more transparent result. Mr. Langill's results were received at Prof. Bickmore's lec- tures with unbounded enthusiasm.
SILVERING ALBUMEN PAPER.
BY HENRY CLAY PRICE.
A LBUMEN paper, when dry, curls. It is, l\ therefore, necessary before proceed-
/ \ ing with the silvering to dampen / % the paper. This may be accom- plished by placing the sheets in a cellar over night, or, if more convenient, on a shelf in the top of a box, and placing a vessel of boiling hot water on the bottom. Close the box and the steam will quickly fill the same. The water should be changed several times until the paper has lost its power to curl. While the paper is dampening, pour into a clean pan of suitable size some of the silver bath (as given in the article on silver bath on page 129, Photo. Times for January). About one inch deep is enough solution. At one end of this pan fasten a glass rod horizontally so as to be stationary. The paper properly dampened, lift a sheet by grasping the opposite diagonal comers with the two hands, the albumen side down, and bring the two hands near together, thus forming a small curve at the center of the sheet With the paper held over the pan of silver solution.
C. C Lanzill.
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Early History of Photography
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lower it gently until it comes in contact with the solution, then gradually lower the two hands so as to bring the balance of the paper down on the solution. I f the comers or ends curl upward, gently press them down with the fingers, until the whole sheet is flat. As bubbles may form on the albumen surface, raise each comer of the paper so as to see to the center, and any bubbles found, destroy by touching them with a clean glass rod, replacing the paper on the solution. Here it must remain until the chloride in the albumen is converted into chloride of silver, which under different conditions of heat or strength of bath requires longer or shorter time. About 15 minutes on an average will do.
When the paper has been a sufficient time upon the silver bath, raise a comer of the sheet at the glass rod end of the pan, and draw the sheet over the rod to remove the surplus solution; then hang it by one comer to a line to dry in weak light or a dark room. On the lower comer of the paper put a small piece of blotting paper to absorb any solution flowing to it. When nearly dry lay it flat between soda paper prepared by immersing world blotting paper in water i pint carbonate of soda, 2 ounces. Do not use this paper until thoroughly dry. When the albumen paper is placed between the soda paper as above, put a weight upon it so as to keep it flat, and there will be no trouble from curling.
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE EARLY HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY,*
The Father of Photography.
ON the nth of February, 1900, ex- actly one hundred years will have elapsed since the birth of William Henry Fox Talbot. To many photographers his name is possibly unfamiliar ; by many more his con- tributions to the foundations of photography are, without doubt, vaguely apprehended. No permanent recognition of them exists, and even the literature of the craft, which, as we hope to show he was the virtual founder, often misrepresents and underrates his labor. The centenary of his birth comes, therefore, as a fitting occasion on which to direct the attention of the photographic world to the part which Fox Talbot payed in the evolution of photography, and at the same time to give a clear and precise account of his relations to his contemporaries in those pregnant years of the third and fourth decades of the century. The inventors of the art-science were treading pretty closely on each other's heels, but those who have studied the early history of photography will acquiesce in the opinion that even so far as priority of publication is concerned, Fox Talbot is entitled to the premier place among the fathers of photography.
But this is not his most undispu table claim. Talbot's process contained the possibilities of indefinite modification. The multiplication of positive proofs from a negative originated
•Copyrighted in the United States by The Photographic Times Publishing Association. •Copyrighted io Great Britain by The Pkotogram, Limited.
with him, and has proved the only possible principle in photography ever since.
For his share, too, in the development of the sister art of photo-engraving. Fox Talbot like- wise deserves a full measure of credit. He was one of the earliest pioneers in that afterwards fruitful field of discovery— the production of printing surfaces by photographic means. He was one of the first experimenters with bi- chromated gelatine, and perfected — and, alas, patented— a process for the production of an intaglio plate to which he gave the name Pho- tographic Engraving.
^ This brief outline which we propose to fill in and illustrate in this and coming issues will serve to call to mind the position of Fox Talbot in photographic history, a position hitherto scarcely recognized.
In reviewing the claims of Fox Talbot to be regarded as the inventor of photography, we wish, as far as possible, to let the text and dates of the original documents tell their own story, merely giving abridgments of these where their length is excessive, or abstracts where — as occurs in one or two cases — only abstracts are available. We shall treat the question in two ways : ( i ) Treating the various processes and the doings of their inventors as matters of history. (2) Tracing the chemical history of the photographs produced by these early processes. There is much more to be said under the first head than under the second. But before we proceed with either, let us %\wq an idea of the state of photographic knowledge before the period — 181 4 (when Niepce began
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his experiments), and to 1843 (when Fox Talbot perfected calotype).
The State of Photo-Chrmlcal KnowWge Prior to 16)4.
The distinction must be emphasized between photo-chemical discovery and photographic dis CO very. To discover that a substance is sensi- tive to light is one thing ; to discover that, by the alteration of a substance in the light, the forms of things can be delineated, is another- The first is photo-chemical ; the second is pho- tographic. Of photo-chemical research there was much before this century. Fabricius, an alchemist of the middle ages, found that silver chloride darkened in the light, and Scheele, Ritter, and others extended the knowledge of this and other photo-chemical changes. Schultze in 1727 did scarcely more than these when he noticed the sensitiveness to light of a mixture of silver nitrate and chalk, and convinced him- self of the change by attaching stencilled de- signs to the outside of the bottle in which the mixture was exposed to sunlight. Dr. Maria Eder claims for him the name of " Erfinder der Photographic," but Dr. Ernst von Meyer, in his " History of Chemistry/* rightly mentions Schultze's work under photo-chemistry. In fact, all work up to and including that of Wedgewood and Davy in this country (in 1801) and of Charles in France (about 1780), was ^ photo-chemical rather than photographic. These last-named experimenters occupy a position, it is true, midway; for while their work was pho- tographic in aim, they failed to find any means of fixing the image Their method, in brief, was to soak paper or white leather in silver nitrate solution (with or without previous treat- ment with common salt) and to expose to light under an engraving or in the focus of the solar microscope.
The chemical text-books of the day, />., those circulating between 1790 and 1820, do not neglect the photo-decomposition of various substances. Thus Davy's " Elements of Chem- ical Philosophy*' (London, 181 2) speaks of **the effects of radiant matter in producing chemical change," and refers to the work of Wollaston and Ritter on silver chloride. Experimenters, therefore, had at their disposal a certain small number of facts regarding the action of light on chemical substances upon which to base their photogfraphic work. The main problem to be solved was how to fix an image when once it was obtained. In this connection it is curious to note that the property of sodium
thiosulphate of dissolving silver chloride, which was pointed out by Sir John Herschel in 1819,* and the various thiosulphates of silver, thus formed, described with a fulness to which later research has added very little, was ignored by photographic experimenters as a means of sep- arating darkened from unaltered silver chloride until Herschel himself drew attention to it in 1839.
The success or otherwise of the three exper- imenters whose work and relations we proceed to consider is to be judged, in a great measure, by their production of a photograph which was permanent. This, at any rate, was the most difficult part of the problem and one which each solved for himself differently.
The External Hlitory of NIepceotype and Daguerreotype. The two men concerned in the development of photography were as dissimilar as can well be. Joseph Nicephore Ni^pce, the son of a lawyer, was born at Chalons-sur-Saone in 1765. His early education, with his brother Claude, was to fit him for the Church, but the Revolu- tion of 1792 upset his plans, and in that year he changed the vestments of the priest for the uniform of a sub-lieutenant in a regiment of the line. He served in the campaigns of Sardinia and Italy and, afterwards falling ill, left his regiment and went to Nice, where he was nursed back to health by a Madame Romero, whose daughter he married in 1794. In 1801 he and his wife and his brother Claude returned to Chalons, where they had a considerable es- tate, and devoted themselves to mechanical ex- periments, the partial result of which was the Pyrelophore, a mechanically-propelled boat. In 181 1 the progress of these inventions determined Claude to leave Chalons, and he settled at Kew, near London, maintaining a correspondence with his brother until his death in 1828. In 1814 lithography was successfully exploited in France by its discoverer, Senefelder, and two years later we find Niepce experimenting in order to find a method of copying the design directly upon the stone. This marked the com- mencement of his photographic work, with which he was more or less always occupied until he died, poor and imknown, in 1833. No one can read his history without feeling that his long years of patient labor ought to have borne better fruit. The)'^ would have done so had not Nidpce himself been so extremely reserved in everything connected with his "heliography."
* Edinburgh Philosophical fournml^ 1819, p. 8.
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The only source of information as to the his- tory of his experiments is, as we shall see directly, his letters to his brother Claude and others, and frequently in them he hesitates to commit himself to paper.
Dagnerre, on the other hand, was brought up amid the surroundings of artists and actors in Paris, and chose the calling of the former. He was a pupil of a then famous scene painter, Degotti, and soon showed himself a genius not only in painting scenery, but in its arrangement for the production of dioramic effects. So suc- cessful was he that a theatre, the Diorama, seating 3,500 people, was erected for the repre- sentation of his masterpieces, and the future discoverer of photography became wealthy and famous One example of his skill in producing scenic effects is still to be seen at the little church of Bry-sur-Marne. Daguerre intro- duced behind the altar a huge canvas on which he painted a view of the interior of the nave of a church so realistically that a person standing even before the the altar might suppose himself in the center of the church. Daguerre was in the habit of using the camera obscura as an aid to scenic design, and became fascinated with the idea of "fixing the camera image." With these preliminary accounts of the two men we may retrace our steps to the commencement of Niepce's experiments.
The correspondence relating to Ni^pce is translated from '^La Verity sur V Invention de la Photographic. Nicephore Niepce, sa vie^ ses essais, ses iravaux d'apr/s sa correspondence et autres documents in/dits^'* by Victor Fouque, Chalons- sur-Saone, 1867. This work, which is admit- tedly written to prove Niepce the sole in- ventor of photogfraphy, is scarcely impartial, but there seems no reason to doubt the authen- ticity of the letters and other documents which were published in that year for the first time, after having lain for thirty years in a granary at Chalons. \
Ni<^.pce's letters to Claude commence in 18 16 and are continued with great regularity till the middle of 181 7. None, unfortunately, are pre- served after that date, but the existence of some from Claude to Niepce show that the cor- respondence between the two brothers was still kept up. Thus, on December 31st, 1818, Claude wrote :
•* I am hoping that this new substance which you have obtained from Paris will answer your expectations. If it does, you will be very near the solution of the pro- blem. I do not quite understand what it is, but I think you do well to refrain from naming^t."
MEN'S CLASS.--SCCONO PRIZE. Arthur A. GUilSOM,
Youth's Companion Competition,
Again, on March 17th, 1820, Claude writes, showing that Nicephore was still engaged on the same problem :
•* How 1 hope . . . that the process which you are devising with the dark sensitive varnish may succeed."
In 1822, Niepce made a copy of a portrait of Pius VII., which he gave to General Poncet du Maupas, a cousin of his. Du Maupas took it to Paris and handed it to M. Alphonse Giroux to be framed. It was on glass and was mounted between two other glasses in a copper frame, so that each side could be seen It was the object of much curiosity by visitors to Giroux' shop. Unfortunately Poncet, who used to take the copy about with him, let it fall. He returned the frame to Niepce, and it was in 1867, according to Fouque (pages 108, 109), in the possession of Isidore Niepce. These facts, Fouque states, are confirmed by several members of General Pon- cet du Maupas' family.
In 1825 * two tin plates were made by Niepce^ which are still in the museum at Chalons. One is a landscape, the other a representation of Christ bearing His Cross, the latter being especially sharp. On the back of it Isidore Niepce has written, " Heliographic design, in-
• La VeriU^ etc., p. ii6.
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Early Htstoty of Photography
[February
vented by J. N. Ni^pce, 1825." The "Christ," given by Nicdphore to M. de Champ-Martin, the father-in-law of Isidore Ni^pce, was re- turned to the latter who presented it, and other apparatus of his father's, to the museum at Chalons.
Let us turn aside for a moment from Niepce to a man to whom the early photographers owed much. In Paris, in the twenties, an optician, Charles Chevalier, kept a shop on the Quai de THorloge. He was a dealer in various kinds of camera-obscura, and, indeed, himself published, in 1829, a pamphlet in which the
wrote to Niepce saying that he had been pursu- ing the same research, and asking for Niepce *s views on the hopefulness of the quest. Niepce *s reply can only be gathered by his reference to the matter in a letter to Lemaitre, the engraver, a year later.
In 1826 Ni6pce engraved on tin a portrait of the Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, copied from an engraving by his heliographic process. His method will be described later. The plate, so Isidore Niepce stated in 1867, was sent to Lemaitre for deeper etching, and many proofs were taken, the original plate being given to
WOMEN'S CLASS.--SCCOND PRIZE.
Mrs. Myra A. Wiggins,
Youth's Companion Competition,
construction and use of these instruments is described.*
Daguerre used to come to Chevalier for his lenses, and Chevalier used to visit Daguerre's studio in the Rue de Crussol. The scene painter would often exclaim on the hopes he had of fixing the camera image, and one day he an- nounced to Chevalier that he had so succeeded, but he did not show Chevalier any results. In 1826 Ni^pce's father came to Paris and called at Chevalier's to get a camera with a meniscus lens. In talking with Chevalier he mentioned that his son had obtained pictures in the camera.f Chevalier told Daguerre of this in- dependent experimenter, and the latter at once
* '* Notice Tsur usafirc des chambres obscures et des chambres claires.'' t " Etude sur la vie et les travaux scientifiques de Charles Chevalieri Ingenieur Opticien, par Arthur Chevalier, son fils. Paris, i86a."
the museum at Chalons. Fouque states, how- ever, that he could not find it at Chalons, though he had many times seen it at Isidore Ni^pce's house at Givry.
A very curious incident is related in the Etude on Chevalier (p. 142), where Arthur Chevalier repeats the following statement made by his father : '* One day," he says, *'a young man came into my shop for a camera- obscura, rather high in price." '* I am sorry," he said, *' that my means will not allow me to get a prism in- strument, for with it I could, I am sure, succeed in fix- ing the camera image." My scepticism of this statement vanished when he showed me several positive prints on paper. They were certainly very imperfect productions compared with those of to-day, but very remarkable at that time. When I expressed myself pleased, he said : * • Since I cannot myself make the experiments, I will give you the material which I use, for trial; " and a few days later he brought me a small flask containing a brown
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Bumt'In ^Photographs
69
liquid resembling strong tincture of iodine. • I followed the instructions which he gave me at the time, but my inexperience in such matters, and the fact that I was oc- cupied in microscopic work did not permit of my ex- pending enough care and perseverance on the work, so that I actually made all the preparations in full day- light ! Discouraged by these failures I awaited the re- turn of my visitor, but he never came, and all I know of him was that he lived in the Rue du Bac." ( To be continued.)
BURNT-IN PHOTCXJRAPHS ON WIN- DOW GLASSES AND GLASS PAINTING
BY P. C. DUCHOCHOIS.
WHEN speaking of the cartoons, we explained how the stained glass es were employed to form the general or lo- cal colors. Of course, the professional glass painter does not other- wise proceed. Upon them he draws, or generally counter- draws, the design from the cartoon, and, afterwards, colors in modeling. But by the process we have described the design is pho- tographed as a monochrome, and the work is, therefore, much simplified. The photo image can be colored by smoothing the tints as in porcelain painting or by partly hatching Whatever it may be, the colors should be em- ployed in certain conditions. One must make as few mix. tures as possible, for, in the fire, the different colors — which are metallic oxides — tend to destroy each other and form new combinations, while by avoiding to mix them, the colors are more brilliant, less fugacious, and the effect more certain. Hence, instead of mixing them, it is preferable to su- perpose them; thus: yellow ochre should first be laid on and over it red iron; golden yellow should be applied after
the second or third firing, else it would pass to orange yellow. It is, with the flesh color, almost the only color of application now em- ployed ; the others (local tints) are obtained from the stained glass.
As we have said before, the beginner is often disappointed by mixing the colors, and, of the whole, it is best to employ them as sold by the dealer.
It is important, we again insist upon it, that the colors be laid on in thin layers, for, when applied in thickness, the adhesive matters form a mass which is less supple and flexible, and the motions of dilatation which the glass undergoes at every change of temperature, not being the same as those of the enamels, little by little destroy the adherence of the colors which detach from the glass or crackle. It is also what specially happens when oil and water colors are alternately superposed, the heterogeneity of the vehicles favoring the accident. Sometimes, even, the dessication suffices on account of the inequality of contraction of the matters super- posed.
There are several manners of painting on glass: the Gothic, the Renaissance, and th^ Modern manners. We shall now succinctly describe them. The Gothic manner of painting window glasses is specially applicable to our photo-processes. We do not refer to the manner by enlevage (brushing off), which, for use, is of a secondary utility,* but to that which consists,
* The manner by enlevage consists to cover the desifj^n, drawn with a water color and dried, with a thick and even coating of a color simply prepared with the ordinary turpentine oil. When it is dry, one, by care- fully rubbing with a stiff orusn, brushes off various thicknesses of the
CHINESE PISHCRMAN UNLOAOINO BOAT.
Geo. C. Meeker.
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Lantern Slide Making for Beginners
[February
to paint with only one color — brown, sepia, warm black grisaille — on the variously colored glasses stained in the mass. This very simple and expeditious manner is capable of producing the most beautiful and artistic effects. It is especially well adapted to our photo-process, for, if the image has been developed with the same color employed for painting, very little remains to be done; it is, so to say, a retouch to impart vigor and brilliancy to the whole, which can be done before firing.
The reader knows that to this manner of paintiftg we owe most of the splendid windows of the old cathedrals on the continent. It was first employed by the artists of the Xlllth century.
The manner of the Renaissance resumes the distinctions still observed in the modem manner between the various glasses employed for painting.
Three sorts of glasses are employed:
1st. Incolorous glasses.
2d. Glasses stained on one side only {flashed glasses), such, for example, as the red glass col- ored by the protoxide of copper (cuprous oxide, Cug O), which is so deep that stained in the mass it appears black.
3d. Glasses colored in the mass {pot metals), such as the browns, blues, purples, yellows, greens, and their shades
One paints on these three sorts of glasses, and, if one wants to judge the effects, it is neces- sary to distinguish the side of the glass which is seen in the interior of the building from that seen from the exterior.
Internal side, — By exception one paints a shadow on this side when it is necessary to im- part vigor to that painted on the external side.
One should place the plain colors, that is, those
which are not shaded, on the external side, viz.:
the yellows, the carnations, the green, blue, and
purple. The purple and carnation (red for the
flesh) are exclusively applied on the side in
question.
To be continued.
color according as one warns to produce the shadows, the half-tints, and the lights. The latter result from the complete elimination of the color; the parts not touched form the deep shadows ; the half tints result from the more or less complete removal of the color. After firing, the re- touches are made witn the color prepared with the fat oil, as usual, imparting vigor can, however, be done before firing by preparing the color with another vehicle.
Certain precautions should be taken to obuin a good result. The water color should be prepared with suear in order that the oil color does not temper it. Besides, the oil color, when applied, should be heated in the oven to acquire enough fixity. One should also avoid to add too much oil to the color, in order not to increase the proportion of esinous matter which would render it too adherent, and consequently, too resistant.
The vitrifiable color employed to paint by enlevage shotild form an opaque enamel. It may be prepared by mixing the brown or violet oxide of iron with the ordinary dose of rocaille flux and fused borax in a quantity equal to the weight of the flux.
LANTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGINNERS.
BY *• PRIMROSE HILL."
Chapter I. — Continued.
(vi.) Chemicals, — As a general rule it is best to follow the maker's instructions for develop- ment, etc. At the same time, where we are using several brands of plates, it becomes in- convenient to have a dozen different bottles, whose contents are but slight modifications of each other. On the other hand, it is a great convenience to have a standard formula which can easily be modified to suit any one of the different plates in use
We find the developer here given below is one which gives us excellent results with several well-known brands of plates, and therefore com- mend it to the notice of lantern-slide makers generally.
( 7 ) Standard Hydroquinone Developer.
A. — Hydroquinone 60 gr.
Potassium metabisulphite 30 gr.
Potassium bromide 16 gr.
Water (to make) 4 oz.
B. — Sodium hydrate (caustic soda) 80 gr.
Sodium sulphite J 2 02.
Water (to make) . 5 . oz.
C— Ammonium bromide 30 gr.
Ammonivim carbonate 30 gr.
Water (to make) 2^202.
To prepare A, — Take 3 oz. of tepid distilled (or boiled tap) water. In this dissolve the metabisulphite. Then add the hydroquinone, and make up to the 4-oz. mark with water. It will probably take some little time and occa- sional shakings up to get all the hydroquinone dissolved, but it can be done Finally, add the bromide.
To prepare B. — First dissolve the sulphite in 4 oz. of distilled (or boiled tap) water, then add the caustic soda, and make up to the 5-oz. mark.
To prepare C, — Both the ammonium salts may be put into the bottle together and cold water added until it reaches the 2 j4-oz. mark on the bottle.
(8) It may here be explained that when making up a formula which reads " Water to 4-oz ," etc., it is easiest to select a clean bottle which will contain the required number of ounces. In the gfraduate take exactly four ounces of water, and pour this into the clean empty bottle. Set the bottle on a table, and with a bit of broken flint make a scratch on the bottle just corresponding with the surface of the water
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Lantern Slide Making for Beginners
71
IN THC LUTSOHCN-THAL.
William D, Murphy,
The Camera Club^ New York.
(9) Fixing Bath, — This is simply our old friend "hypo." Hypo, 4 oz.; water, i pint, i, e.^ 20 oz. If clean and bright slides are required, we must use clean hypo. Into a quite clean wine bottle put 4 oz. of hypo, and add 20 oz. of tepid water.
(10) With regard to fixing and developing dishes we can use those employed for making the quarter-plate negatives. Dealers, however, will for sixpence supply us with a lantern-plate developing dish, which just fits a lantern plate.
We are now prepared for our first attempt at slide-making, which we reserve for next chapter.
II.— HOW TO MAKE A TEST EXPOSURE.
(11) Having got together our needful ap- paratus (viz., a negative, printing frame, dust- ing brush, light, and developer dishes, etc.), we may now make our first trial. The reader must
please understand that the exposure here given may or may not apply to his case. He must bear in mind the variations of negatives, of strength of light, and sensitiveness of plates. We will suppose our negative to be of some landscape subject, of fairly moderate density, so that it gives us a bright silver or platinum print, and free from any appreciable negative color stain. The light we propose using is an ordinary No. 5 Bray's gas burner. We now go into our dark room, which may be fairly well lighted by ruby or red-orange light. Lay the printing frame face down on the table. Place the negative in it, film upwards, in the usual way. With the dusting brush carefully go over the film of the negative, and also the surround- ing parts of the wooden frame. Open the box of prepared plates. [Observe they are packed face to face or film to film. Observe, too, that
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Lantern Slide Making for Beginners
7i
the coating is apparently thinner, more trans- parent, and not so easily seen as the coating of an ordinary negative plate. Therefore some care is needed so that you make sure which is film side and which is glass side. This you can best do by catching the reflection of the lamp first on the film side and then on the glass side. Once you notice the difference, and hereafter you should not mistake one for the other.] Now dust the film side of the plate, and then lay its film in contact with the film of the neg- ative in the printing frame. Holdup the frame, with negative and plate, and look through the plate towards the light. You will be able to see enough to enable you to adjust the plate over that part of the negative that you wish to reproduce. This done, cover the back of the plate with the piece of black cloth. Replace the back of printing frame, and close it up, and of course be careful to close the plate box directly a plate has been taken out. Slip the plate box and printing frame under your focus- ing cloth or in a drawer, and then turn up the light.
(12) Adjusting the distance from the light, — Neither the foot rule nor tape measure are very convenient things to use in semi-darkness. But the following plan will be found convenient : Take a piece of stout string about 5 or 6 feet long. At one end make a loop, which easily slips over the gas bracket, and embraces the part holding the burner. Now make a one- loop knot on the string, and adjust its position so that when the string is held tight, this knot is just one foot from the center of the gas flame. Then at 2 feet from the flame make a two-loop knot. Another, a threeloop one, at 3 feet, and so on at 4 and 5 and 6 feet. We can thus by a touch of the finger know the various positions of these knots.
(13) A trial exposure. — This done we turn the gas jet down to the small blue flame, then holding our printing frame and the knotted string in the same hand, we adjust matters so that the frame is at the 4 feet knot. Then, with the other hand, we turn up the gas, and expose the plate for ten seconds, and then turn it down to the blue bead again. Next, with a bit of cardboard, or piece of brown paper folded two or three times, we cover up one-third of the negative face, and with it one- third of the lantern plate below it. Then again turn up the gas for another ten seconds ; then, in like man- ner, as before, we slide our card shield so as to cover up two-thirds of the negative and plate.
thus leaving only one-third uncovered. Finally, we turn up the gas again for twenty seconds. Consider for a moment the present state of aff^airs. The whole plate was exposed ten sec- onds, two-thirds was exposed another ten, or total of twenty, and the last third had yet another twenty, or total of forty seconds. Thus the three strips have had ten, twenty, and forty seconds* exposure.
(14) Developing the plate. — Take of mixture A, (par. 7), one dram; take of mixture B., one dram, and add water to make a total of one ounce. This is our normal mixture for black tones. Apply this to the plate, just as though you were developing a negative. In about forty to sixty seconds probably the image will begin to appear. Development should be car- ried on until we can see the darkest parts show- ing at the back of the plate. This may take, perhaps, three or four minutes. Development being finished, the plate is washed in clean water for half a minute or so, and then trans- ferred to clean hypo. The plate should be very thoroughly fixed. If it takes five minutes for the fixing bath to remove all milky appearance, then give another five minutes, or a total of ten minutes in the fixing bath. The plate is then washed in a gently flowing stream. The gela- tine surface once or twice very gently rubbed
C
Exposure, 10 seconds 10 seconds 20 seconds
40 total.
B Exposure, TO seconds 10 seconds
20 total.
A
Exposure, 10 seconds
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Lantern Slide Making for Beginners
[February
with the tip of the finger or a tuft of pure cot- ton wool. After at least an hour's washing, the plate is set up to dry in a place free from dust.
Of course, in the case supposed, we shall ex- pect to see the plate come in three different strips, such as may be seen in the accompany- ing reproduction from a test slide made exactly in the way just described. A was exposed ten seconds, and then covered up; B had a total of twenty, and C a total of forty. We thus see that B gives us the best result. This is, how- ever, just a trifle too strong in contrast, there- fore, when making a new slide, we should decide to give about twenty-five seconds' ex- posure with the developer in question.
The beginner is strongly recommended to make one or two exposures in this way, to make a note at the time as to details of light, plate- negative, distance from light, exposure, and de- veloper, and write them on the plate when dry. — Amateur Photographer.
To be continued.
OUR FRIEND AND CONTRIBU- k tor, C. W. Brinton, has sent us I the accompanying snow scenes with the following letterpress. The little article, it is needless to say, was written at an earlier date, when the temperature was not so conducive to snow and ice as at present.
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LOOKINO FROM THE BRIOOC.
C. W. BrintoH
LOOKINO DOWN THE HILL.
C W, Brinton.
" Now is the time when you like to think how cold it was last winter, and, if you have taken any photographs when the snow was on the ground, those will be the ones that will be most admired by your friends these hot days. When the snow is still falling you must get your camera loaded and be all ready to start; for when it stops you have not much time to lose, as the snow falls off the branches very quickly; and, even in my pictures, which were taken im- mediately after the storm and right on our place, the snow was commencing to fall from the trees, and I was afraid it would spoil my time exposure; but, fortunately, it did not.
"All these pictures were taken early in the morning, about 8:30, and then developed with pyro, not too strong, as I always give a snow scene full exposure, as there is plenty of con- trast anyhow.
" Number 2 was given ;4 second full opening, number 3, 15 seconds small opening, and the other two the next smallest stop and 3^ seconds.
" Snow scenes are prettiest printed on plati- notype paper, and mounted on dark gray card board, to make the snow show off effectively. If mounted on white you will often find that your snow looks quite gray.
" Don't try photographing figures or animals, thinking the snow will make an effective back- ground, or you will be disappointed by seeing a black mass against the snow, with no lights or shadows whatever. Even in taking landscapes you should not have too much contrast, and early in the morning or the evening is the best time for taking them."
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COMPARATIVE DEVELOPING FORMULAE.
BY ULYSSES G. ORR.
ACOMPARISON of the following for- mulae will show at a glance the relative proportions of chemicals best adapted to the development of different brands of plates. If solutions be made up separately, suitable developer can readily be prepared for the par- ticular brand of plates in use at the time. Solu- tions should be prepared by using less than the quantity of water required, and after the salts are dissolved, adding water to make the desired quantity. For example, a 1:5 solution is re- quired. Dissolve one ounce of the salt in about four ounces of water, then add water to make five ounces.
The right hand column of weights and meas- ures should be used in making up developer with the 1 : 5 solutions. If developer is made up from dry chemicals, the left hand column must be used.
In mixing up pyro developer for immediate use the acid may be omitted.
The tendency of a greater or less quantity of any factor in the developer is as follows : Reducer. More — clogs up whites; too much contrasts. Less — slow development; lack of bril- liancy. Alkali. More— quick development ; dense, flat negatives; fog and granulation. Less — slow development; contrast. Sulphite. More — colder tone.
Less — warmer tone; stain. Water. More — thin in high lights; detail.
Less — contrast. Temper'e. Should be about 70 deg. F. Higher — Intensity; fog. Lower — flatness. The warmer and closer the atmosphere in which the negative is dried, the more intense it becomes.
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23.4 gr. .14 m. 2.9 gr. 11.5 gr. |
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I oz. |
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10 gr. 2.5 gr. .05 m. II. 3 gr. |
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I oz. .08 gr. .15 gr. 2.1 gr. 22.43 gr. ii.i2gr. 5.6 gr. |
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.05 gr. 1.33 gr. 9.6 gr. 4.8 gr. |
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13.54 gr. 1.69 gr. .oi6m. |
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7.44 gr. |
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7.44 gr. .24 gr. .1 gr. 1.9 gr. 7.29 gr. |
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1 oz. .18 m. |
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2.97 gr. 16.92 gr. 16.92 gr. |
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2 gr. .1 gr. .8 m. |
PYRO. Cramer.
Water 5 dr.
Sodium sulphite (1 :5) . 1 dr.
Acetic acid
PYRO
Sodium carbonate (1:5)
PYRO. Seed.
Water 6 dr.
Sodium sulphite (1:5).
PYRO..
Sulphuric acid
Sodium carbonate (1:5)
PYRO. Carbutt.
Water 4 dr.
Oxalic acid
Potassium brom. (1:10)
PYRO
Sodium sulphite (1:5). i dr. Sodium carbonate (1:5) Potassium carb. (1:5) .
PYRO. Hammer.
Water 6 dr.
Oxalic acid
PYRO
Sodium sulphite (1:5). Sodium carb. (1:5)
PYRO. Wuestner.
Water 6 dr.
Sodium sulphite (1:5). i dr.
PYRO
Sulphuric acid
Sodium carbonate (1:5)
PYRO. Harvard.
Water 6 dr.
Sodium sulphite (1:5).
Citric acid
Amm . bromide (1:10).
PYRO
Potassium carb. (1:5).
PYRO. Stanley.
Water 5 dr.
Sulphuric acid
PYRO
Sodium sulphite (1.5). I dr. Sodium carb. (1:5)..! dr.
PYRO-AMMONIA.
Water 7 dr.
PYRO
Potasium brom. (1:10) Ammonia, 88 (1:10)...
5 57
m. m.
2.9 gr.
58 m.
14 m.
50 m.
2.5 gr.
56 m.
53 m.
1.5 m.
2.1 gr. 52 m. 56 m. 18 m.
48 m.
1-35 gr. 48 m. 24 m.
15 m. 8 m. 1.65 gr.
37
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Comparative Developing Formulae
[February
WOMEN'S CLASS.— FIRST FRIZC.
Emma Farntwortkt
Youths Companion Competition,
METOL. Hauff.
I oz. Water 4 dr. 12 m.
2.3 gr. METOL 2.3 gr.
18.5 gr. Sodium sulphite (1:5).! dr. 32 m.
26.8 gr. Sodium carb. (1.5) 2 dr. 14 m.
.25 g^. Potassium brom. (1. 10) 2 m.
HYDROCHINON.
I 02,. Water 4 dr. 40 m.
3.6 gr. HYDROCHINON... 3.6 gr.
18 gr. Sodium sulphite ( i : 5) . i dr 30 m
22 gr. Potassium carb. (1:5).! dr. 50 m.
EIKONOGEN. Seed.
I oz. Water 3 dr.
21 gr. Sodium sulphite (1:5).! dr.
7 gr. EIKONOGEN
37 gr. Sodium carbonate ( J. 5).3 dr.
AMIDOL.
I oz. Water 3 dr.
50 gr. Sodium sulphite (1 :5).4 dr. 5 gr. AMIDOL
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Comparative Developing Formulae
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DIOGEN.
I oz. Water 50 m.
24 gr. Sodium sulphite (1:5). 2 dr.
6 gr. DIOGEN 6 gr.
62 gr. Sodium carb. (1:5)... 5 dr. 10 m.
.08 gr. Bromide (i :io) .8 m.
PYROCATECHIN. Dr. E. Vogel.
I oz. Water 7 dr. 20 m.
7 gr. Sodium sulphite (1:5). 35 m. I gr. Caustic soda (1:5)... 5 m. 1.5 gr. PYROCATECHIN . 1.5 gr.
PYROCATECHIN-FIXING. P. Hanneke.
I oz. Water 2 dr. 40 m.
26 gr. Sodium sulphite (1:5). 2 dr. 10 m.
6 gr. Caustic potash (1:5). . 30 m.
6 gr. PYROCATECHIN.. 6 gr.
30 gr. HYPO (1:5) 2 dr. 30 m.
GLYCIN. Hauff.
I oz. Water 3 dr.
30 gr. Potassium carbonate. 2 dr. 30 m.
30 gr. Sodium sulphite 2 dr. 30 m.
5.85 gr. GLYCIN 585 gr.
ORTOL. Hauff.
I oz. Water 3 dr.
1.7 gr. Potassium metabisul .
3.5 gr. ORTOL 3.5 gr.
35*7 SP*' Sodium sulphite (1:5)3 dr. 23-8 gr. Sodium cart. (1:5).. .2 dr.
METOL-PYRO. Hammer.
T OZ. Water 7 dr. 8 m.
1.36 gr. METOL 1.36 gr.
.34gr. PYRO 3.4gr.
6.8 gp*. Sodium sulphite (1:5) 34 m. 3.45 gP*' Potassium carb. (1:5). iS m.
METOL-HYDROCHINON.
I oz. Water 4 dr. 45 m.
1.5 gr. METOL 1.5 gr.
1.5 gr. HYDROCHINON . . 1.5 gr. 24 gr. Sodium sulphite ( i -.5) 2 dr.
15 gr. Sodium carb. (1:5).. I dr. 15 m.
METOL-GLYCIN.
I oz. Water 7 dr.
1.6 gr. METOL
3 gr. Sodium sulphite (i 15).
3 gr. Potassium carb. (1:5).
1.6 gr GLYCIN
BROMO-HYDROCHINON.
T oz. Water
26.6 gr. Sodium sulphite (i :5).2 dr.
4.44 gr. HYDROCHINON. .
2.22 gr. Potassium brom. (:io)
54 gr. Sodium carb. (i 15). . .4 dr.
30
1.6 15 15
1.6
m. gr. m. m. gr.
Cramer.
m. ra.
55 13 4.44 gr 22 m 30 m,
EIKONOGEN-HYDROCHINON. Seed.
I oz. Water 4 dr. 30 ra.
27.7 gr. Sodium sulphite (1:5)2 dr. 18 m.
3.46 gr. ElKONOGEN 3.46 gr.
.86gr. HYDROCHINON.. .86 gr.
14-37 gr. Pota. carb'ate..(i:5).i dr. 12 m.
METOL-HYDROCHINON. Velox, N. C Co.
I oz. Water 3 dr.
.7 gr. Metol .7gr.
20 gr. Sodium sulphite (i:«;)i dr. 40 m.
3 gr. HYDROCHINON.^ 3 gr.
40 gr. Sodium carb. (1:5). . .3 dr. 20 m.
.1 gr. Potass, brom. (1:10). i to 6 m.
AMIDOL. Velox, N. C. Co.
I oz. Water 4 dr.
48 gr. Sodium sulphite (1:5)4 dr.
5 gr. Amidol 5 gr.
.1 gr.- Potass, brom. (i:io). 2 to 6 m.
FERROUS-OXALATE. Nepera Bromide Paper.
A. Oxalate of potash ... i dr. 56 gr. Hot water 5 dr. 50 m.
B. Proto-sulph. of iron. . 28 gr.
Hot water i dr. 25 m.
Citric acid . i gr.
C. Potass, brom. (i. 10). . i m.
BOYS' CLASS.— SECOND PRIZE.
Daniel E. Bellows,
Youth's Companion Competition
Digitized by
INDIAN GIRL.
Joseph r. Keilty.
The Camera Club, New York.
Digitized by
\
■ '^ --r.l
A NEW EMULSION.
BY M. TOCH.
ON Friday evening, December 22nd, Dr. Schttpphaus read a paper be- fore the Society of Chemical Industry at the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York, on " A New Method for Sensitizing Paper and other Fabrics." The paper was illustrated by experiments, and treated of Dr. Mueller's patent on the light-sensitive emulsion produced by mixing phosphate of silver with tartaric acid.
It appears that phosphate of silver has been often tried as a sensitive medium for paper, but never successfully, and the method by which it was obtained was due to the following methods :
Very dilute solutions of nitrate of silver and phosphate of soda are mixed, and the precipitate allowed to subside. This is washed twice with distilled water, and then a solution of tartaric acid is poured on the washed precipitate. Instantly after agitation an emulsion forms which looks exactly like an emulsion of gelatine and a silver salt, and if this be coated upon paper, linen, silk, or cotton, it can be ex- posed under negative by sunlight or elec- tric light, and on dark cloudy days it prints quite rapidly too. After printing it is placed in an alkaline hypo bath for two minutes, washed for ten minutes, and then it is finished. The result is a matt print very pleasing in tone and if toned with an alkaline gold solution the print resembles amazingh^ a sepia car- bon print. Without being toned the prints are a brilliant brown, and the high lights and half tones are slightly orange. The prints can be washed in hot water, there being no gelatine or collodion emulsion to melt. The prints can likewise be placed in hot alkaline hypo when they become sulphur toned. Sulphuretted hydrogen is
not supposed to aifect the prints, and in all, the process is remarkable for its simplicity and its effectiveness.
Viewed under the microscope the prints show that the fibre of the paper is practically dyed with the silver deposit, which accounts for its resistance to hot water.
What the chemical reaction of the phosphate of silver and the organic acid is, has not been determined.
ALFRED STIEQUTZ.
Gtrtrude K&se^ier-,
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Suggestions on Pictorial Composition
[February
STILL WATERS.
SUGGESTIONS ON PICTORIAL COM- POSITION.
BY J. A. GAIXAGHKR.
S grammar is to the study of forms of speech, so is composition to the suc- cessful pro- duct of, be it either brush, chisel or lens. It is not to be inferred, however, that by a knowl- edge of the laws of com- position alone that pictures can be pro- duced, for all
Georjre IV. Firmin, theSC 1 a W S ,
and princi- ples, are as nothing without the necessary in- struction that is found in the study of nature. ** Taste" should not be given the place of " knowledge," because it little matters as to the peculiar inward feeling we may have, as to what we think may please, or go to the making of what might be called a picture, for the rea- son that no real success can be achieved with- out a knowledge of, and a following out in our efforts, the general rules and instructions that have been followed by those whom we know as masters, and who have produced the works, that are "lasting."
It is considered quite the proper thing in these latter days, particularly by a class known as advanced thinkers, to brush aside rules and laws, to pass beyond the land of conservative construction, into a new country.
Certainly energy and enthusiasm are com- mendable, but when they go to the making of pictures, such as were exhibited not a long time since in one of our larger cities, we sigh for a turning again to the ways of our fathers. The pith of the whole matter is, that if we desire to do work that is of more than the "moment," we must, in our efforts, apply the principles that have been followed by those, whose labors have been crowned with success. It is not by chance that these things are produced, because
there is no constancy in chance, and, as in other things, every effect has its cause. Sir Joshua Reynolds on this matter wrote : " It must, of necessity be, that even works of genius, like every other effect, as they must have their cause, must likewise have their rules. It can- not be by chance that excellencies are produced with any constancy or certainty, for this is not the nature of chance, but the rules by which men of extraordinary parts, and such as are called men of genius, work. . . Unsub-
stantial, however, as these rules may seem, and difficult as it may be to convey them in writ- ing, they are still seen and felt in the mind of the artist, and he works from them with as much certainty as if they were embodied, I may say, upon paper." We may, perchance, produce one picture without the least conception of composi- tion, know nothing whatever concerning Balance, Contrast, Unity, but can we produce a second ? As the authority above quoted puts it, there can be no constancy or certainty, no real success hoped for, but that which is built on a knowl- edge of the laws that govern the arranging of the objects that are within our angle of view, so that they combined, shall give us the greatest amount of what is known as picture value. How very essential it is then to have a knowl- edge of the laws that have to do with composi- tion, particularly in the field that is opening to photography in the way of novel-illustrating. This is certainly a most interesting line of pho- tographic work; a branch that as yet has not, to any great extent, been taken up. There is no doubt, but that in the very near future there will be a demand for this particular class of work, and publishers are beginning to realize that the camera can be made a most effective agent in the way of producing book-illustrations. The teachings of composition are to enable us to present or arrange objects in an agreeable or pleasing form, and whatever we may produce, it must be an expression, or that which is de- finite. Do not aim at the whole universe with the forlorn hope in mind that you may perchance bring down a something, and " libel " it "study." Composition teaches us definiteness, and its instructions lead us to produce that which can be understood. "Art is always translatable;" it also does not lend itself to vain gropings that lead to nowhere. It would also have us study the beautiful, or rather that which we interpret as being beautiful; all things beautiful are not beautiful to [men ; and the deciding as to what is really beautiful, is often to our peril. As
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Is that the ;ruth ? " the photographer asked.
" Square and did," affirmed the tramp. " Yez can come wid me to the postoffice and look at me sind it wid yer own eyes. 'Tis this way : What wor lift ov Dinny Rourke wor carried off be iung faver, and 'tis a hard row Molly's havin* to hoe these days. Oi sind her a bit av stuff, anon-y-mous loike, ivery once or twice in a whoile, thot's all."
The photographer handed over the bill. He felt as he did it that he was being humbugged,
but such humbuggery — if such it was — came near being art, and his was an artistic soul.
"I would like," he said, adjusting his camera, *' to obtain a photograph of your moral nature, but as that is impossible with the material at hand, I will trouble you to assume once more the pose of the Weary Wayfarer. After that we will try for a facial study, to be called What Might Have Been."
" Go ahid," said the tramp, and lopped down, contentedly closing his eyes.
American Journal of Photogfraphy.— December.
An interesting number, but not so full of photographic information as is usually the case with this clever journal. Frank Wonderly writes on the "After Treatment of Platinotypes," Walter Sprange gives us on ** Taking Baby's Picture," and Arthur Ennis "On Lighting Profiles." A couple of travel articles are well illustrated.
** On Ughdag Profiles,^ by Arthttr Eiinjs*
A profile will be made most intelligible by introducing the light rather behind the head, so as to throw the re- ceding boundaries of the front of the forehead, eyes, cheeks, nose and chin into a half tint. The principle light will be on the upper parts of the temples, cheek- bone, and the ear ; and the principle shadows under the hair, upon the cheek and temples, and under the eyebrow, close to the nose. The whole of the front of the iris of the eye will be light, except close under the eyelashes. The pupil of the eye will be scarcely visible, but the eyeball will appear darkest where the pupil is known to be. With a light background, a beautiful re- lief will be given the head. A profile so illuminated ought never to be under exposed and care must be taken not to make the contrast of light and shade too great but to get delicate shadows by the judicious use of reflected light.
The slightest diflference in the angle at which the top or side light enters the studio and falls upon the head makes either a picture or a blur. (Not even an artistic blur at that.)
However it does not follow that all profiles should be illuminated by a side light behind the head. Some features are more effectively illuminated by front light —but when a front light is employed a dark background must be used to secure proper relief of the head.
Camera Notes.— January*
Undoubtedly the finest number yet brougfht out by the Camera Club. The photogravures, including one by Demachy and one by Berg, are all excellent, and the half-tones could not be improved. This number is particularly rich in literary matter, although containing little that is photographically instructive. A. Horsley Hinton writes on " Some Distinctions," Sadakichi Hartmann ** On Plagiarism and Imi- tations," Dallett Fuguet "On Originality," while Joseph T. Keiley has an extended and ably written criticism on the recent Philadel- phia Salon.
''On Orfglnaltty,^ by Dallett Faguct.
It is a trite dictum of art that any one may take any- thing already done and do it over again and make it his own» provided he can do it better that it has been done before. If he succeeds, he is justified; and the verdict of time, which confers the permanent laurel wreath, will uphold him. But if he fails, he is doomed to oblivion, if not to ridicule, or even to obloquy. For he has dared to use the already minted gold of art, to deface the stamp upon it; yet has not given in place of this a
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sharper, clearer imprint. Nothing but this most difficult of all things, a decided bettering of the beauty already coined by art, can excuse any tampering with or bor- rowing from the creations of others. Anything less is mere imitation or downright theft.
But it is not necessary to keep refurbishing the old creations. There is ever material and combinations for it at our hands without this, if we are good enough to do anything of worth. The hacks keep dinging it into us that there is. and can be, nothing new under the sun. But everything keeps changing continually, as we do ourselves every moment. And the new raw material of our day and our generation lies ever ready if we can see clearly enough to seize it, if we have the knowledge and love of beauty sufficient to fashion it to art, and the strength of personality wherewith to stamp it. The doing of this is called originality.
''Some Dbtincticns,'' by A* Horsley Hinton.
Art, whatever the means employed to express her inspirations, <nay have many phases, many moods, There may eVen seem many degrees of perfection, ac- cording to the power of him whom the gods'jhave chosen to carry out the thought that began with them. But that which is produced is either artistic or it is not. There should be no middle stage called pictorial in which to rest content, because the object of the picture is to accomplish the artistic and to stop short is to ac- knowledge incompetence and defeat.
I submit that it is arbitrary and. unwarrantable to say that in producing, not a specimen of photography but a picture by the application of photographic means a man may employ lead pencil to retouch the shadows, or he may increase density by chemical deposits on the film ; but he may not use the blacklead pencil or brush in any other way, nor increase density by using tracing paper of paint, or anything else.
The end in view, namely, a picture, justifies any means being employed; the end attained confirms the justification after they have been used.
Photo-Beacon*— January*
The features of this month's issue are un- doubtedly the pictures by Jas. Patrick, of Scot- land. He obtains wonderful landscape effects, with figures well arranged in the foregrounds or middle distances, and in an interesting article tells of his methods of work. " Some Photog- g^aphic Carpentry,'* " A Shutter Speed Tester" and " Photographing Interiors " are all full of value to the amateur, while what promises to be of exceeding interest is the opening chapter . of a series on "Artistic Landscape Photog- raphy " by John A. Hodges, F.R.P.S.
^Matters pertahiing to the Art Side of Photogfraphy,*' by Jamet Patrick.
Nature is continually delighting the eye with its atmospheric glamour, and may be portrayed in many moods — in storm or calm, or when the clouds are scurry- ing across the sky and casting shadows and producing wonderful effects on the hillsides. Now this variety of
aspect cannot be obtained by going out only in fine weather and when the atmosphere is clear. Views taken under such simple conditions, in the hands of a good technical worker, result in many admirable transcripts of the scene which he saw at that particular period of time, but this technical perfection— clean manipulation and prosaic details— do not go far in the production of a work of art. No; photography has higher aims. We still require such indispensable qualities as breadth, harmony, unity and atmosphere.
An effect of haze or mist in the distance is a thing to be prized and made the most of. Therefore I cannot help thinking it is a mistake to try to penetrate it by yellow screens and isochromatic plates. By so doing you lose, to a very great extent, the sentiment and picturesqueness of the subject.
Chiaroscuro, or light and shade, is of paramount im- portance in the production of works of art. Without it, in fact, no pictorial work can be accomplished. We have not, indeed, the same liberties that the painter has in the matter of altering the light and shade to suit our sub- ject. There is thus the greater necessity for studying carefully those effects which will produce the most pic- torial results. We still require such indispensable quali- ties a.s breadth, harmony, unity and atmosphere: and it may be safely said that all these qualities are embraced in the word chiaroscuro. There is (or rather should be) in every picture a point of superiority; it may be a point of light or a point of dark, but in either case it should serve as the keynote to the whole picture, and prevent that spottiness and confusion to the eye resulting from its being attracted by numerous parts of equal im- portance.
The photographer, like his big brother of the brush can pitch his keynote on any scale; but pitch it as high or as low as he pleases, it can never have the same range of tones as Nature. Her highest light is the sun; ours is white paper. Therefore I think we get more true to nature when we pitch our keynote low.
Now this statement has to be fully appreciated in order to understand what art really is. Art and nature are two distinct things; but although distinct, no work of art can be accomplished without the blending of both, as art is based on nature. It is, in fact, treatment of nature, and one must be in touch with nature before one can ever hope to portray in his work the essential quali- ties of a work of art. I would ask you to get rid of the idea that you can give an exact transcript of nature. No mau, whether he be an artist in color or an artist work- ing on a monochromal scale, such as the photographer, can possibly give a perfect representation of any object, therefore this imitative art fails in its only aim.
The Photo-American^— January, J90(X
Hollinger is hardly shown at his best in the child-picture used for a frontispiece of this number, which is altogether not particularly fortunate in its illustrations. It makes up for this, however, by an abundance of "meaty" articles, the leading one being the opening chapters of a series on "Lantern Slides," by Osborne I. Yellott. A B. Luce writes on photo-
Digitized by
GRAND PRIZE, MCN'8 CLA88.
Edgar Felloes,
Youth's Companion Competition.
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[February
graphing children, and other articles are on the Isochromatic Plate, and Photographing Clouds with Landscapes.
Photo Era*— December
The Photo Era for December contains some excellent illustrations by Osborne Yellott and Wm. Lyman Underwood, probably the best animal photographer in the country. A critic on the Philadelphia Salon; "Photography of Clouds,'* by Osborne Yellott, from which we make extracts, and the technical side of " Moun- ' tain Photography," by C. F. Stiles, make up the principal contents of a thoroughly satisfactory number.
*' The Photography of Clotidi,^ by Oiborae L Yellott The author points out that it is a mistaken idea to think that clouds can be caught as well with the ordinary plate as with an ortho or isochromatic plate, without a color-screen as with the specially prepared plate with a properly adapted color-screen. Another fallacy is the idea which a great many people seem to have that a ray-filter, or color-screen, is an automatic arrangement, and in itself corrects all differences in actinic value of the light from the sky and that from the foreground of a view. This is only true where the foreground is so lighted as to admit of a much shorter exposure than the normal one for ordinary landscape. The proper exposure for clouds is one-twelfth that of ordinary landscape. The Bausch & Lomb ray-filter, with normal solution, is said to require about four times the exposure for both; although, in actual practice, it would seem that the same ratio between the actinic value of sky and landscape does not exist with the ray- filter as without, since the ray-filter with normal solu- tion seems to cut down the blue rays in a greater proportion than the green, yellow, orange, and red. Be that as it may, the difference even with the raj^ filter is considerable, as is attested by the large number of ray- filterg^phs we see, in which the plate is developed for the clouds, to the manifest detriment of the foreground and middle distance. The conclusion is evident, there- fore, that, if we are to have a properly exposed and developed foreground in our negativ©. we must have some way of holding back the sky, or else go to infinite trouble when we come to print from the negative.
In consequence of experiments the writer always feels safe in giving clouds more than one-twelfth the normal exposure multiplied by four, except in cases where the values are so exceedingly delicate that the slightest over-exposure would destroy them.
In the dark room, some Carbutt's metol-hydro devel- oper in tubes being nearest at band, a tube is dissolved in twelve ounces of water instead of four, and another tube in three ounces of warm water. In the second graduate is placed a wad of absorbent cotton, with a small brush. The light from the ruby lamp is cut off considerably by a screen containing a sheet of ruby glass three or four inches in front of the lamp- a neces- sary precaution whenever isochromatic plates are to be handled.
The plate is first immersed in the dilute solution, and the tray covered with a sheet of cardboard. In about two minutes the sky portion is well up, with the fore- ground and trees still in white. Lifting the plate from the tray, the wad of cotton, soaked with the concen- trated developer, is next brought into requisition, and the foreground carefully gone over, the plate being put back in the dilute developer every few seconds, to pre- vent uneven development. Meanwhile the brush is used alternately with the wad of cotton, to get close to the sky-line with the strong developer, and to follow along the tree-trunks and other parts of the foreground projecting against the sky. As soon as the foreground is of the proper density, and much stronger than the sky, which is in three or four minutes, the dilute developer is poured off, and the plate flooded with the concentrated developer. In from five to ten seconds it is found that the sky portion is of the same density as the foreground; and the strong developer is then poured off, and the plate quickly flooded with water. In each case the comparative tones of sky and earth in the scene at which the camera was pointed are kept in mind, the endeavor being to preserve their relative tones so far as possible.
Wilson's Photographic Magazine* — December*
We always look to this magazine for good examples of professional work, and are seldom disappointed. The December number is es- pecially rich in portraiture, several being child studies. That the literary matter is of equally high order goes without saying, the chief arti- cles this month being "A Few Words about Gum-Bichromate," "The Size of the Picture,' by Robert Melville, and " The Professional as an Amateur," by John Tennant.
A Few WorcU about '^ Gum-Blchfomate.''
One fortunate thing about gum-bichromate is the wide choice of paper. We are so used to hearing of the necessity of pure stock that we are inclined to smile when we are told that almost any paper will do, without regard to purity. This is, perhaps, too sweeping a statement, but the strength of the paper to hold together when wet seems to be the most important. For some effects rough drawing papers may be used, and any pre- ferred tint or fine detail may be obtained on a fine linen paper. If the paper is too absorbent it should be sized with loo grains of arrowroot in lo ounces of water, or we may overdo the *' art " of it and get too much degrada- tion of high-lights. A happy medium should be struck, for with too much size we might reach the other extreme and get hard prints. In sensitizing the paper in a solution of potassium bichromate the chief things are to guard against air-bells and to get the paper thoroughly satur- ated. This sensitizing should be done in the dark-room or in a very weak light, and the paper should dry in the dark.
Dissolve I ounce of gum in 8 ounces of cold water. Don't use heat; let the gum dissolve as slowly as it likes. It will keep a long time, and as long as it does not acidify it can be used.
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There is a hint about measuring the quantity of color required. The finest colors for the purpose are the •'moist" water-colors, put up in collapsible tubes, though for some work the crudest powdered colors may be used. But with tube-colors the amount can be gauged by the leng^th of the jet squeezed from the tube. Thus, if it was once found that a three-inch jet was sufficient for some size and color of coating, the three- inch jet may be remembered as a standard. Or if two or more colors are used, the right quantities can be accur- ately measured. The way to mix the colors was demon- strated some little time ago before one of our societies by taking 70 gprains of pig- ment to 2 ounces of the gum solution. The pig- ment was spread on a palette and a few drops of the gum poured on it. This was then worked and kneaded with a palette- knife until fully mixed into a paste. Don't be afraid of too much mixing. When thoroughly mixed add the paste to the 2 ounces of gum, in a cup, and stir it all well together.
The Practical Photosfraphef*->(Ens:Iand) January*
A very good number, well illustrated, and containing amongst other articles " Pictorial Lantern Slides," by R. R. Rawkins ; " On the Value of Snow in Photography," by Will A. Cadby, and " The Transference of Clouds from One Negative into Another," by P. Rowe.
^The Transference of Ootids from One Negative Into Another,^ by P. Rowe. Choose two negatives, one a landscape, with a fair
n
^The Professional as an
Amateor^^ by John
Teonant*
Writing on this point, Mr. Tennant says : Among the professionals of our East- em States, five of the most pros|>erous and most suc- cessful entered the profes- sion from the amateur ranks less than five years ago. Originally taking up pho- tography as a hobby, or as a help in an another line of work, these amateurs become interested in portraiture and its possibilities, launched themselves into the pro- fessional field, and in each instance achieved remark- able success. These professionals, three of whom are women, are specialists, do really clever work, and, work- ing among the wealthier classes, get prices which would astonish the average professional.
What is the best remedy when a professional has sud- denly to face competition of this kind in a limited field ? Much necessarily depends upon circumstances. As a general thing, it will be noticed that the *• new school*' professional devotes' himself (or herself) to a specialty. They are skilful in one kind of work, and they introduce their specialty in a very intelligent way. If the photog- rapher finds himself unable to hold the field in this specialty against the newcomer, abandon the special line, take up another and make it your own. If the competition is on general lines, study the methods of your competitor, find out why his work receives so much notice and attracts people more than yours; why people will pay his prices (generally higher than yours); and how he secures his business. Then, according to your information, oppose his methods by others equally per- suasive or effective.
F. C, Green.
proportion of blank sky. the other a cloud one of medium density, suitable, of course, in lighting, etc., to the landscape.
The next thing is to remove the film from the cloud negative, and place it on the top of the landscape nega. ative. To do so, immerse the cloud one in—
Sulphite of soda a oz.
Water 10 or.
and there let it remain for about ten minutes; at the end of that time, with the finger tip or tuft of cotton wool, gently release the film from its glass support, and com- mencing at one corner, go all around the edges first, then work towards the center until the whole is de- tached, when at once transfer into clean water.
By this time it will have enlarged itself considerably, and if desired may be brought back approximately to its original size by a bath of a saturated solution of alum. If this is not sufficient, methylated spirits is a certain cure. Before putting in spirits it should be well washed to remove all trace of soda. Now for a few minutes soak the landscape negative in water to soften the film, then float the loose cloud film on to the cloud portion of the landscape, bsing careful to put the original/^?r^ of the loose film next to the film side of the landscape.
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Hold the two before a sufficiently strong light to en- able you to see through both, and adjust the clouds in the position you wish them to assume in the finished state, taking care that the horizon line of the loose clouds overiaps the horizon line of the landscape. Drain off surplus water and go carefully all over for air bub- bles; it is most important that these should be removed, either with cotton wool or a brush; when this has been done, lay it in a horizontal position to dry, which should be in a cool atmosphere and not near the fire, as the top film would be liable to i ome off through contraction. Make, when the whole is quite dry, a fairly strong solu- tion of Farmer's reducer as follows—
Fcrricyanide of potass i ? grs.
Hypo .. 50 IJ**s
Water 2 ozs.
Dissolve the hypo and add the ferricyanide of potassium just before using. This is better done by a brush. Apply it on top of the clouds, keeping it as evenly as possible over the whole of them, and well up to the horizon line, which it does not matter if you occasionally go over.
Keep on with the reducer until you can plainly see the clouds when looking through the negative by the light reflected from a piece of white paper. This will take, say, quite three or four minutes, and by that time it should be finished. Practise, of course, will teach exactly when it is, but as a guide, lift up a small por" tion of one of the top corners of the upper film ; if indi- cations of clouds are visible on the one underneath, then it is done, but if not, keep on with the reducer until they are.
Soak the whole in running water for an hour to get rid of the reducer, and remove the top film, if it has not already come off in the washing water.
It will then be seen that apparently the clouds have transferred themselves from one negative into the other, for on the landscape negative will be reproduced iden- tically in every respect an exact copy of the original cloud negative. This, as I take it, is by the action of
the reducer acting on the half-tones first, which, not having such a large deposit of silver, naturally do not protect the deposit underneath to the same extent that the denser portions of the clouds do. In other words the film underneath is protected from the action of the reducer according to the density of that particular por- tion of the cloud film which is over it. Thus the half- tones are only protected half as much as the high -lights, and are consequently reduced proportionately, whereas the shadow in the clouds, having no deposit to protect the film underneath, reduces the same completely away, making a corresponding shadow in that film.
SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVKS.
Bulletin du Photo Qub* — (France) December*
The Bulletin brings us but little that is new this month, the two main articles being drawn from other journals. Horsley Hinton*s notes from England are interesting, especially his criticism on criticisms of the Philadelphia Salon. Articles: A New Process of Obtaining Col- ored Pictures by Means of Bichromated Gela- tine, by R. Namias. A Platinum Toning Bath, by A. Courrfeges.
Das Atelier des Photo^fraphen* — (Germany) January.
Dr. Miethe always manages to gather excel- lent examples of German photography within the covers of his journal. The reading matter, while more or less technical or professional, is also good. H. van Beek writes on ** The Tech- nique of Reduction"; G. Albien on * The Home Preparation of Slow Dry-Plates for En." largements and Dia positives,'* and Georg Pflaum on ** Interiors and Similar Subjects."
**The Tcdmiqtie of Redtsc- tion^'^ by H. van Beek.
The author says: Reduc. tion is necessary
I. When the negative, although of correct quality and gradation, is fogged equally all over through one or another cause.
2 When the negative, with correct exposure, has been developed too far, so that the general density is much too great.
3. When a negative that requires intensification is slightly fogged.
4. In an under-exposed negative, where the choice would lie between glass- clear shadows and correct density of high-lights or shadows showing some de- tail and much too intense
Walter Spranfrt, high-lightS.
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CAPE TOWN.
5. In a negative com- bining the last case and a slight fog.
In many of these cases, it is less a matter of the composition of the reduc- ing solution as of the method of treating the plate. The main point is that the silver be affected equally, so that It is neces- sary to have that particular action of the reducer well in hand. In the first case, when fog spoils a good plate, we have, therefore, to he careful that the silver reducing agent does . not reach the silver layer forming the picture. A very quick removal of the fog is therefore necessary, and a concentrated solu- tion must be chosen. The plate should be brought ifr^f into the reducing agent to prevent ihe solution permeating the film, which it would do in the case of a wet film. The fog will disappear quickly and evenly, and we shall obtain a brilliant negative. To prevent any uncertainty as to equal action of the agent on the fog, it is a good plan to rub the film before reduction with absolute alcohol, thus removing grease and other impurities.
In the second case, as a general rule all the silver in the film layers must be equally acted on. It is. there- fore, advisable to thoroughly soak the negative before rednction, and to use a very weak solution. The weaker the reducer, the less the shadows have to sufl'er, and consequently there will be more equal reduction. It is hardly necessary to add that a very thorough after- washing is requisite to avoid any after-action of the re- ducer remaming in the film. In the third case— a fogged plate requiring intensification— the fog must first be removed, and we would consequently use the method given for the first case. Intensification can then be proceeded with without danger of increasing the fog.
All these cases can be treated with any of the reducers hitherto in use. We will now take up the two cases, which up to within recent times were considered hope- less, but which can be materially remedied by the use of ammonium persulphate. In usiug this reducer, it
Waiter Sprange.
must not be forgotten that // has not the power to re- move even the slightest fog. It is, therefore, not ad- visable to use concentrated solution. Weak solutions work best. A very careful after- washing is necessary, and a bath in a sulphite of soda solution prevents further action of the salt on the film. The persulphate u.sed must be pure. With regard to the last case given above, the log must be removed by the method given for the first case, therefore no previous soaking of the negative is needed. After washing, the requisite density and gradation can be attained by using ammonium per- sulphate. It may be well to mention that this last case requires great skill on the part of the operator, and a good result is only to be expected when the plate is but slightly fogged.
In the cases given above, fog on the upper surface of the film only is spoken of. It is clear that the fog can occur also on the surface of the gelatine next to the glass and this case can be considered almost hopeless. The only thing to do is to strip the negative. To pre- vent fogging on the glass side of the film, it is a good plan, if there is reason to mistrust the dark-room lan- tern, always to hold the plate with the gelatine surface toward the light during the loading of plate-holders and development. This will prevent any unpleasant experi- ences.
>^
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We devote considerable space in this number of our magazine to matters concerning the Photograpbic Trusts and Anti-Trusts, for we deem the subject one of importance and at present of great interest to photographers, whether they be amateurs, professionals, or dealers. We wish expressly to suggest to pho- tographic dealers that they will act wisely if they hesitate before signing agreements with the Rochester combinations, for if, as seems likely, such agreements can be construed as limitations of trade, the individual dealer thus sigpiiiLg makes himself personally responsible under the Federal Anti-Trust Laws as well as the Trusts themselves. The strong Anti- Trust Association, whose organization we re- port in this number, will give this particular matter its careful attention, and as it is backed by su^icient capital it will be in a position to force a test case of the mattet, if necessary carrying it to the Supreme Court of the United States for final decision.
The Richmond Camera Club have sent me a neat booklet containing their program for 1900. While not a large Club, it is evidently very well organized, and carried on with a system which the larger Clubs could well afford to imitate. The subject and lecturer is given for ever>' meeting of the year; also the names of those who are to discuss. The subject of the picture of the month is also given, even ex- tending to the end of 1901. They must be far-sighted mortals, these Richmond enthus- iasts, but I commend the care with which they have prepared the year's plans, and only trust that they can carry them out as provided for.
In this number we reproduce the prize-win- nmgpictures of Youth's Companion Photographic Contest. This is now an annual affair, and looked forward to with great interest all over the country. No less than ten thousand pic- tures were sent in, by some thirteen hundred
and fifty individual amateurs, which proves the immense success of these contests. The pictures were judged by J. P. Loud, John G. Hubbard, and O. A. Eames, of the Boston Camera Club, and W. W. Churchill, the portrait artist. The winner of the grand prize was Mr. Edgar Felloes, who our readers will re- member, received the Photographic Times Sil- ver Medal recently for portrait work. The prize- winning picture of the Beginners' Class is really one of the best pictures shown, and we predict success for Mr. Ladd, if this was not a mere ** chance " picture. Those well-known amateurs. Miss Emma Farns worth and Miss Myra Wiggins, were first and second respect- ively in the Women's Class. In the junior classes the boys did much better than the girls, which is a reversal of the usual order of things. The Youth's Companion is to be congratulated on the showing of its Fourth Annual Exhibi- tion, and the Photographic Times wishes as much and more success in this year's contest.
In our December issue, we published an initial cut on page 570. This, it appears, was part of a copyright picture by H. A. Latimer, and should have been so credited.
SIOINNKRS' CLASS.
W, y, Ladd.
Youth's Companion Competition,
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Edttorial Notes
91
In the American Annual of Pho- tography for 1900, which, by the way, has been enjoying a very large sale there is an article on copying (page 88) attributed to E. K. Hough. Mr. J. A. Anderson was the author of this article, and credit should be given to him for his ably expressed ideas on the subject.
The Photo-Miniature, that excel- lent little monthly hand-book^ teaches us many delightful ways of spending an evening photographic- ally, in its eighth number; I compli- ment the editor on his clear, concise method of imparting so much in- formation in so little space.
HUMOROUS CLASS.
Frank R, Miller
PHOTOGRAPHIC MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA*
4 N IMPORTANT two days' conference /% of the leading photographic manu-
/ % facturers not in any way con-
j^ ]^ nected with the Rochester Trusts
or Combinations, was held at the
Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Tuesday and
Wednesday, Jan. 9th and loth .
The meeting was attended by the following representative firms engaged in the various branches of photographic manufactures: Man- hattan Optical Co., by Mr. Schaeffer, of the F. & M. Schaeffer Brewing Co.; the Bullard Cam- era Co., by its manager, Mr. Bullard; the Sco- vill and Adams Co. of New York, by its President and Vice-President, Mr. W. I. Lin- coln Adams, and Mr. A. C. Lamoutte, also by its Director, Mr. James F. Chard, of the Thorn- ton and Chester Milling Co., of Buffalo; the Kozy Camera Co., of Boston, by Mr. U. K. Pettingill, of advertising renown ; the veteran dry -plate maker, who is now also making sensi- tized paper and films, Mr. John Carbutt, of Philadelphia; the Defender Paper Co., of Roch- ester, by its Treasurer, Mr. M. B. Hoyt; the Vive Camera Co., of Chicago, by its Vice-Pres- ident, Mr. Atwater; the Adams and Westlake Co., also of Chicago; the Guudlach Camera Co.^ of Rochester; Charles Cooper & Co., of New York, by its Manager, Mr. Kleinhans, and other companies were represented, either personally or by proxy.
Youth's Companion Competition.
The sessions were all characterized by a marked spirit of unanimity, and all the gentle- men present expressed themselves as strongly in favor of protecting the real interests of the photographic trade throughout the country b)' maintaining open competition and preventing arbitrary actions from having the injurious effects which they otherwise would produce.
It was unanimously resolved to effect a per- manent organization, and a committee, consist- ing of Messrs. Schaeffer, Carbutt, Atwater, Lamoutte, Bullard, Adams and Hoyt, was ap- pointed to attend to the incorporation and other important matters pending the completion of the permanent organization.
It was decided to at once issue to the trade a circular stating the position of the manufac- turers composing this Anti-Trust Association, and it is hoped that in their own interests the individual dealers throughout the country will cordially co-operate with this business associa- tion in its liberal line of action.
The Book-Illustrating Competition, which was announced in our last issue, and which is run conjointly with the Doubleday & McClure Co., is arousing considerable interest. The conditions were given in full in our January number. There are no restrictions, and pro- fessional and amateur have equal chances for the $175.00 cash offered in prizes. The closing date is June ist, allowing ample time for the work.
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Editoriat Notes
[February
THE LATE SCNJAMIN PIIINCH.
OBITUARY.— It is with deep regret that we have to record the death of Benjamin French, of Boston, founder of the well-known house of Benj. French & Co., and one of the first in this country to take up photography. He had been in failing health for some time, and his death resulted from a complication of diseases. Mr. French was bom in 1819, in Le- banon, N. H., and was a typical specimen of the enterprising ever-alert New Englander. Although brought up as a teacher of commer- cial subjects, he early saw the great possibili- ties in Daguerre*s then new process, and some time in 1844 he opened a Daguerreotype studio. He kept his prices high, but his pictures were good and he made money. Then, seeing that there was a demand for photographic supplies, he opened up such a business with Mr. L. H. Hale. In 1848 his supply business was growing so rapidly that he left picture-making, and de- voted himself entirely to supplying others with their materials and requisites. In 1856 Mr. French introduced the Jamin and Darlot (now Darlot) lenses into the American market, and in 1859 took the agency for the Voigtlander lenses, for both of which lenses his house is still the American agent. Mr. French's long con- nection and great experience in the business gave him a prestige and position enjoyed by but few, while his high sense of honor, his re- markable sagacity and tact, made him a suc-
cessful merchant. The funeral, which took place on Feb. 5th, was attended by the follow- ing representatives of the trade : J. W. Will- iams, of the Defender Paper Co., Rochester, N. Y.; W. F. Thode, of the Hammer Dry Plate Co.; St. Louis, Mo.; Chas. Nash, of the Cramer Dry Plate Co., St. Louis, Mo ; J. B. Pelgrift, of the Scovill & Adams Co. of N. Y., and the Photographic Times Publishing Association. The firm of Horgan, Robey & Co. closed their store during the service, and also attended the funeral in a body.
Congress of Photography in 1900* Preparations are now being made for an international congress of pho- tography, to be held in Paris this year. A committee has been appointed for the purpose, under the presi- dency of M. Janssen. This committee is sub-divided into live sub-commissions, which will have charge of the five sections and will prepare the programme of the work to be carried out in the sessions of the congress. These five sections are constituted as follows : i. Phys- ical questions relating to photography. 2. Photographic materials. 3. Photographic chemistry. 4. Terminologry and bibliography. 5. Legal and professional questions. All applications for admission to the congress, for which the fee is fixed at 10 francs, as well as all other commu- nications, should be addressed to the general secretary, M. S. Pector, 9 rue Lincoln, Paris. Among the mem- bers of the committee may be mentioned Messrs. Vidal, Lippmann, Braun, Lumi^re, and Molteni.
COdBINES THAT DO NOT COMBINE.
To the Editor of The Photographic Times. St'r:
We read and hear a good deal at present in regard to trusts and combinations, and the industrial and com- mercial world seem to be considerably agitated over the subject. Personally I do not feel that there is any reason for the apprehension which seems to be felt by many merchants and small dealers; for I think that in the long run these things regulate themselves, and that the everlasting laws of supply and demand and compe- tition will continue to manifest themselves, as well as the law of gravitation.
It is true that when the photographic paper trust was organized, it did seem at first as if it would be rather more effective in preventing competition than many trusts are, for the raw material seemed to be pretty effectually controlled. But even in this case we find that competition has already sprung up even in the city of Rochester itself, where a strongly financed corpora- tion is now making several entirely acceptable sensi- tized paper products and which are bein^ sold in spite of all the trust can do. Then there is the platinotype paper, outside of the trust, which is being more widely used every day, especially by the best photographers; the self-toning paper; the Reichenbach paper, also made in Rochester; the Bradfisch paper; the veteran plate- maker, John Carbult, of Philadelphia, making an excel- lent developing paper, ** Vinco; " and I personally know of at least two other very strong organizations for the
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Editorial Notes
93
manufacture of paper, which are now practically ready to begin operations, and will soon be on the market. I therefore think that photographic merchants need have no fear but that there will continue to be a healthy competition in this branch of their business, provided they do not prematurely tie themselves up to the trust and thus compel those who will remain outside to sell direct to the consumer, or else create new dealers.
The hand camera combine apparently from the very first was imable to control the hand camera business, for three or four of the oldest and most successful apparatus plants seemingly could not be purchased by the combine. I refer, of course, to the Gundlach Optical Company, a very successful manufacturing business in the city of Rochester; the Manhattan Optical, within the sphere of the great Metropolitan district of New York, and backed by the great wealth of the Schaefer Brewing interests; and the Scovill & Adams Company of New York, who have been manufacturing for many years the admittedly best line of plate cameras for amateurs. Of course, there are smaller factories, such as G. Gennert's, the Folmer & Schwing Mfg. Co.'s plant, and others. Now still another very large and strong manufacturing corporation has entered the field with the avowed purpose to stay there. I refer to the fiuUard Camera Company of Springfield, Mass.
So long as these various manufacturing plants con- tinue their independent course, the photographic dealers and the photographers themselves, are perfectly safe, for it insures a healthy competition and prevents arbitrary measures on the part of anyone. Of course, it maybe expected that the combine will bring pressure to bear on the small dealers, and there are some who will probably '* knuckle under," as the saying is; but they will be putting themselves in the hands of those who have only their own selfish interests to attain, and cannot, therefore, expect to be benefitted by those giving up their independence. I therefore urge the photographic merchant, whether he be large or small, to insist on his independence and liberty of action in all respects, for if he does so, he and all will be much better off in the end.
Trusting that you may find space for this rather lengthy communication, I beg to subscribe myself.
A Photographic Merchant.
The Paper Rins*— We extract from the Papier Zeitung that O. S. Greenleaf, of Springfield, Mass., has bought the Springdaie Paper Mills at Westfield, Mass.. and, with the assistance of J. B. Mumford, who has studied the manufacture technically in Germany, will organize them for the production of photographic papers. The experiment is supported by the American trade as a means of combating the monopoly of the Steinbach-K16ber combination. The factory will pro- duce 5,000 lbs. daily-
FACT5 ABOUT THE COMBINE.
LFrom the Boston Herald of December 15, 18^9.]
The photographic world is, as a matter of fact, in a state of considerable excitement. It has witnessed the gradual growth of the kodak business under the man- agement of George Eastman, during the past decade, with pride mingled with some apprehension, as one
corporation after another was absorbed under Mr. East- man's personal control. Last summer the principal photographic paper manufacturers were combined in a photographic paper trust, in which it was known that Mr. Eastman had a large, if not a controlling, interest. It was therefore natural for the trade to assume, when the recent camera trust was formed in Rochester, that Mr. Eastman was also at the bottom of that combination as well.
The facts, however, are just the opposite, as the new camera trust consists of plate camera manufacturers only, and is therefore antagonistic in essential interests to the Eastman business, which has been built up and consists in the film system of photography. This state of affairs was shown by the fact that Mr. Eastman per- mitted all his agents, beginning with Nov. i, to allow discounts to consumers on his products, which was an entire reversal of policy on his part. It is now under- stood that he made this move in the hope that he could compel the camera combination to take in his camera business in the trust. It did not, however, have that result, as the new combination, when formed, consisted only of the companies already named.
What Mr. Eastman did succeed in accomplishing, however, was to secure a contract, as selling agent, for the new camera trust, and it is precisely this contract which the photographic dealers, and the trade in gen- eral, cannot understand.
It is perfectly obvious, to those out of as well as within the photographic trade, that the Eastman inter- est, being identified with film photography, cannot be enhanced by pushing the sale of plate cameras. Neither can it be to the interest of the new camera trust to place the sale of its goods in the hands of the Eastman com- pany. It is therefore generally said that this contract will not amount to much in actual practice, and was probably made as a sop to Mr. Eastman's pride. The dealers are buying their cameras from the various camera manufacturers composing the trust, as they have heretofore, and they therefore fail to see where this contract has any force, but there may be more behind the matter than the photographic trade knows or thinks.
With the exception of two, or perhaps three companies composing the new camera combination, the individual concerns were not doing a particularly profitable business, and there is therefore some doubt in the minds of those best qualified to know as to the future financial success of the camera trust. It is capitalized at $3,500,000, which is supposed to be based on the profits of the com- ponent companies. It is not claimed that the actual value of the properties turned into the trust anywhere near approximates this sum of money. In good years, like the present, moderate dividends may be earned and paid on this capitalization; but it is not thought by the shrewdest photographic merchants that it can continue to pay dividends through a term of years.
This feature is especially strengthened by the fact that three of the largest camera manufacturers in the country are not included in the combine. They are the Gundlach Optical Company, an old and reliable con- cern of Rochester; the Manhattan Optical Company of Cresskill, N. J., backed by the Schaeffer brewing inter- ests, and the Scovill & Adams Company of New York, the oldest concern in the business. These companies
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94
EditorUt Notes
[February
have been doing a successful and protitable business for many years. It has been rumored that these com- panies are about to form a trust of their own, which will take in two or three new and important camera factories about to be established. If this is true the photographic trade may see some lively times in the near future.
A few days ago the Heraid msin went to New York to see Mr. W. I. Lincoln Adams, president of the Scovill & Adams Company of New York, and a well known authority on all photographic subjects, being the author of a number of standard books on such matters, and asked him if he could confirm the report of the ** counter trust." Mr. Adams said that he was not in a position to either confirm or deny it. He said that no such combination had as yet actually been effected, and he did not know that it would be; but that he thought it was entirely natural for the concerns not interested in the Rochester combination to gradually grow together. He stated in so many words that they were at present co-operating with each other on friendly lines to the advantage of all the companies concerned, but that an3rthing more intimate would grow out of it he could not say.
•*As a matter of fact/' he said. »*I am opposed to trusts and combinations. I do not think that any one is benefitted by them, as a rule, except the promoters. They are almost invariably tremendously overcapital- ized, and the companies which are purchased are usually taken in at a price far in excess of their real value We have recently seen the results of this overcapitalization in the present financial panic, and I fear that we have not yet seen the end of it."
*' My own trade," he contined, *' has been rather free from this overcapitalization until very recently, and I was in hopes that the mania for forming trusts and com- binations might not reach the photographic trade. I suppose it is the success of the Eastman company which has induced some of the paper companies and then the Rochester camera concerns to effect combinations. Neither combination, however, enjoys a monopoly, so that no ill effects will result, so far as the trade is con- cerned, for there are already several large paper manu- facturers, notably the Defender company of Rochester, either making paper at present, or preparing to do so in the early future; and there are three or four camera manufacturers, fully as large as some of those in the camera trust, that are on the outside. This condition will naturally insure a healthy competition, and will, therefore, prevent the arbitrary raising of prices. It may not. however, be to the advantage of those who have bought stock in the new trust.'*
"Were you invited to join the camera trust?" Mr. Adams was asked.
*' Yes," he replied, '* but we declined to put a price on
our business. We do not want to sell out or go out of business. We have been identified with photography since the days of the daguerreotype, in the forties, and," he added, smiling. *'we expect to remain in it a few years longer."
Mr. Frederick A. Anthony, the treasurer of the E. & H. T. Anthony Company of New York, was also seen, and he confirmed the report that the trust was to be formed. Mr. Anthony said that Mr. Eastman was not the man, however, who first brought the scheme to the notice of his company, the gentleman who did this being Mr. William F: Carlton, who is president of the trust. Mr. Anthony said that he did not know that the Ray and Monroe companies were to be discontined. and, in fact, he had just received a circular from the East- man company which stated that all orders for the pro- ducts of any one of the six companies should be sent either to the Eastman Company direct, as agents, or to the factory of the company whose goods were desired. This, he held, indicated that all of the companies are to be continued, for the present at any rate. Their own plate hand-camera business is to be continued, so far as he knew, though it may be moved from New Haven elsewhere.
The Herald man then called upon some other of the representative photographic-material merchants, from which he gained the impression that it is not only prob- able, but very likely, that the independent camera com- panies would soon organize an alliance, offensive and defensive, in the interest of the photographic trade in general, and thus prevent the possibility of the paper and camera trusts arbitrarily raising prices. The trusts are naturally much disliked by the photographic-ma- terial merchants and small dealers, and they would be glad to see some opposition combination formed which would protect their interests.
Some of the leading photographers of New York were also called upon, and from them it was learned that the feeling against the trust among them is even stronger than among the photographic-material dealers. They were disposed to pay more money, if necessary, some of them said, for paper and cameras that were not manu- factured by the firms composing the trusts.
When asked about his company going into the pro- posed film and dry-plate trust, Mr. F. O. Stanley, of the Stanley Dry Plate Company of Newton, said :
** There is no truth in any such statement. Some six months ago there was some talk of our going into the trust, but the parties directly interested could not agree on figures, so we dropped the matter there. Since then no overtures have been made to us, and I think that we shall continue doing business under our present ar- rangements for some time to come. I do not think that there is any danger of our joining any trust right away."
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T/\e eoiTOR's TABLe.
PHOTOGRAPHIC MOSAICS FOR 1900.
THIS popular photographic Annual has once more made its appearance, but it scarcely reflects the progress made in photography during the current year, which an Annual publication should. It might have been dated back five or six years and be quite as ap- propriate in its subject matter and illustrations. The articles, as a rule, are rather better than the pictures. Most of them are both interest- ing and instructive, yvhile the pictures are in some cases, we are sorry to note, examples of what to avoid rather than illustrations to be followed.
The editor says in his always interesting in- troductory paper that when he was a young man, it was the ideal of the leading photog- raphers to produce, as he expresses it, " sharp, wiry" photographs, and that he himself was one of the first to urge photographers to devote themselves more especially to the artistic side of photography. It is therefore singular that most of the illustrations selected to embellish the book are from negatives of the very kind which he advised photographers so many years ago to avoid. They are sharp to a degree, with strong, chalky whites against unrelieved blacks; and many of the portraits are stiff and conven- tional in pose, if not theatrical and untrue to life. This seems to be accounted for by the fact that most of the pictures are by unknown men, or by those who are living on past rep- utations and have not kept up with the times.
Of course there are brilliant exceptions to this rule, as for instance the frontispiece por- trait of Miss Mary Mannering by Pach Brothers, than which nothing can be lovelier in design and execution. The portrait of Andrew Car- negie by Dabbs of Pittsburgh, is also an ex- cellent example, and we admire the portrait after Torjetti by De Vos of Chicago J. Will Kellmer of Hazelton, Pa., has a strong portrait, and there are two or three good child pictures. Probably the best example in the book is the
magnificent portrait of Joseph Jefferson by Gutekunst of Philadelphia, which is also re- produced much better than many of the other illustrations. Right here it is only fair to say that we think that the defects of many of the original negatives have been rather intensified by the photo-engravers who reproduced them. The treatment in most cases seems to be very hard and coarse.
After all is said, the book contains good fifty cents' worth in the illustrations that are ex- cellent, and in the valuable reading matter which we find in its pages, and it will probably find its usual warm welcome, especially among the older professional photographers for whom we imagine it is particularly intended.
Telephotography, an elementary treatise on the con- struction and application of the telephotographic lens, by Thos. R. Dallmeyer, F. R. A. S.. with 26 plates and 66 diagrams. Cloth, $4. The author, who is well known as the maker of the celebrated Dallmeyer lenses, has given us for the first time a thoroughly practical treatise on telephotography and its applications. He has not fallen into the error of treating the subject too popu- larly ; he writes for ** those who practice photography either for pictorial or scientific ends," and his aim is — to quote from the preface — to call attention to the scale in which objects are reproduced in the image by ordinary photographic lenses, and to show how this image may be subjected to direct enlargement or magnification be- fore it is received on the photographic plate.
The first six chapters are devoted to the theoretical ex- planation of the formation of the images, both by the *' pin-hole camera," by positive lenses and by negative lenses, and are illustrated with a number of diagrams, and also to the enlargement of the image by a positive system and a negative system of lenses combined— or the telephotographic lens. The seventh chapter is de- voted to practical applications of the telephotographic lens, and the eighth to working data and formulas. The whole subject is taken up so carefully and thoroughly and with such a perfect understanding of the underlying optical principles, as is only to be expected from the son of John H. Dallmeyer, the originator of the Dallmeyer lens, that this work will serve for many years as a stand- ard, both for the scientist and the student. It is a book as valuable in its way as Emerson's classic, ** Naturalistic Photography." Longmans, Green & Co., New York.
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The EdUor's Table
[February
Number 3 of Volume III. of Camera Notes has come to our table considerably enlarged, both as to letter- press and the number of illlustrations which it contains. It strikes us, however, that this excellent publication is becoming a little narrow in its point of view as it con- tinues its career, and we fear that the result will be it will lose the influence and authority to some extent which it otherwise would enjoy. It is doing such ex- cellent work in the interest of pictorial photography, that we particularly regret to see any mistakes of judg- ment made by its managers. Where mopt is so good it seems ungracious to point out flaws, but we cannot for- bear to express our astonishment that a picture like that entitled "The Mall," in this nuhiber of Camera Notes, should have been admitted between its covers. That particular example, it seems to us, is a rather conspicuous illustrations of what to avoid. If it had been referred to in the text as an illustration of what should not be done with the camera, it might have served a useful purpose, bu« its appearance in so excellent a pub- lication as Camera Notes necessarily carries with it some authority, and therefore will undoubtedly mis- lead and confuse a great many earnest students. The picture is uninteresting in subject and poor in ex-
ecution. The composition, especially, is unmitigatingly bad, as a tree grows out of the middle foreground, cut- ting the picture into almost mathematical halves, and almost completely obliterating the only point of interest in the subject, which is the middle distance. There is rather a pleasing atmosphere to the picture, but as it is constructed, the pleasant impression which this would make, is more than obliterated by the awkward com- position.
The British Journal Photographic Almanac, 1900
edited by Thomas Bedding, F. R. P. S. Of the many almanacs, published in all countries and in all languages, devoted to photography, one of the most welcome is this bulky little volume, of which an English editor says that it is almost cubic in its dimensions. Mr. Bedding's contribution to the annual is a condensed treatise on Stereoscopic Photography, in which, however, he fails to give us anything particularly new, and over hundred pages are devoted to short pithy articles by "those who know." The remainder of the book is given up to an epitome of the year, formulas, processes, etc. and a vast and really instructive quantity of advertis ing. Paper covers, 50 cents; cloth, |r.
THE 'PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES RECORD
Of Gwnpctitions Open to Photog^raphers*
NAME
Photographic Times Photographic Times Photographic Times Photographic Times Indianapolis Press Leslie's Weekly
Patent Record
Mail and Express
m* Buffalo Express
The Camera
ADDRESS
New York New York New York
SUBJECT
Book Illus- tration
Laniern Slides
Study of a Child
PRIZES
$175.00 Cash and i 5 Medals |
I Silver Medal I r Bronze Medal
1 Silver Medal , I Bronze Medal
CLOSING DATE
June r, 1^00
April 1.
lOOO
March i. 1900
RESTRICTIONS
None See Rules See Rules
REMARKS
See January Number
New York
Indianapolis. Ind.
New York,
N. Y.
Baltimore. Md.
New York, N. Y.
Buflfalo. N. Y.
Still Life I Silver Medal I ^ I . c « i
Study I I Bronze Medal | May t, iqco | See Rules
Changed Bi- | $5.00, $3.00 and ' „• • 1 I Must use Coupon
weekly | $2.co | Bi-weekly | Amateurs only
Recent Cur- rent Events
Unique Sub- . jects and Re- cent Current Events '
General
$5.ocCash I Weekly |
$5.00. $3 00 and $2.00
$5.00
Cash
15th of each month
Weekly
Annual
Amateurs No Copyright Pictures
Amateurs
Philadelphia, • Interior Pic- Cash and Mater- January 31, Pa. tures ials iqoo
Amateurs No Copyright Pictures
See Paper See R ules
See Paper
$1 paid for each photograph used
See Paper
No Pictures Re- turned
Photographs pub- lished and paid lor liberally
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ARCH. 1900.
THE
PHOTOGRAPHI
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^^ An-Illustrated Aonthly-AagazineI devoted-to-the* interests-of- aktistica^scientific ^ Fhotography
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96
CONTENTS
Number frontispiece— By William D. Mur- to our tr^ opposite 97
n^i^!^* .'^''^. ''!^.!^. ^: „
V Bronx— By R. F. TurabuU— Illustration . . 99
-i«m Henry Fox Talbot— Illustration 100
-«ISpnt-In Photographs on Window Glasses and Glass
Painting— By P. C. Duchochois 100
Landscape— By U. C. Warner- Illustration loi
A Decorative Photographer, F. H. Day — By Sada-
kichi Hartman — Illustrated 102
" I Thirst "—By F. Holland Day— Illustration 104
Miss Ben Yusut— By F. Holland Day — Illustration. 105 On the Prevalence of *' Chance " Pictures at Exhi- bitions and Salons— By W. B. Swift 106
The Gainsboro* Hat— By F. Holland Day— Illus- tration 107
Still Eventide— By W. E. Bertling— Illustration 108
Care of Silver Bath— By H. Clay Price 108
Suggestions on Pictorial Photography — By J. A.Gal-
t^ lagher— Illustrated 109
On the Stour— By J. Carpenter — Illustration 109
A Sleepy Afternoon — By George W. Norris — lUus-
• ' tration no
Toil— By Frank R. Miller— Illustration in
The Feet in Portraiture— By Frank M. Sutcliffe—
Illustrated * 112
Lantern Slide Making for Beginners — By ** Prim- rose Hill "—Illustrated 114
After the Storm— By W. T. Watson— lUustration. . 114 A French Canadian Village — By J. P. Hodgins—
Illustration ii6
A Lonely Shore — By Guy B. Steams— Illustration. 117
Formalin as a Preservative 117
Cheap Method of Making an Isochromatic Screen. 117 The Blacksmiths— By W. B. Yarley— Illustration.. 118 Apparatus for Preserving a Stock Solution of Pyro—
By Archibald B. Home 119
Photographs in Color — By Ulysses G. Orr 120
The Pleasures of Gout — 6y J. J. Woolnough — Illus- tration 120
Rogers Pass, Rocky Mountains— By E. Stanger— Illustration 121
A Hand Camera Abroad— By T. J. Preston, Jr. — Illustrated • 122
Market Place, Mayence—By T. J. Preston, Jr.- Illustration , 122
The Land of Dykes— By T. J. Pi-eston, Jr.— lUus- tration 123
Old Canterbury— By T. J. Preston, Jr.— JOlustra- tion , x^
Flower Girls in Paris— By T. J. Preston, Jr.— Illus- tration 124
A Successful Photographic Contest 124
Hard Negatives 124
"Mid Frost and Snow '•—By G. E. Valleau— Illus- tration 12$
Our Monthly Digest 126
A Rainy Day— By E. Nicolai— Illustration 126
The Smoker— By E. Nicolai— Illustration 127
Peggy— By F. Holland Day— Illustration 128
Toders— By E. G. Boon— Illustration opposite 128
Nature's Mirror— By W. B. Blackball— Illustration. . 128
Spring— By W. H. Moss— Illustration 130
Osgoode Hall Library— By W. Bohne— Illustration. 131 The Legitimacy of Improving Photographic Work —
By B. Nicolai 132
Sunshine and Shadow — By H. Hampshire— Illus- tration 133
Our Competitions 134
A Poster — By Andrew Emerine — Illustration ...... 135
The Old Mill— By J. H. Dewees— lUustration 136
Editorial Notes 137
Notes and News 138
Surf Scenes— By Geo. Hersey— Illustrations 139
A Helping Hand— By Sylvester Ford- Illustration. . 140
After the Storm— By Geo. Hersey— Illustration 141
The Editor's Table 143
Process Work 143
Iron in Primary Batteries — By Major-General J.
Waterhouse 143
The Photographic Times Record , , 144
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Vol. XXXII.
MARCH, 1900
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE EARLY HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY*
(continued.)
HE partnership between Ni^pce and Dagnerre took place in Decem- ber, 1829. The cir- cumstances leading to it were as follows : In a letter to Lemaitre, dated February 2nd, 1827, Ni^pce says :
** Do you know one of the inventors of the dio- rama, M. Daguerre? My reason for asking is this : This gentlemen having been informed (how I don't know) of the object of my researches, wrote me in January of last year to inform me that for some time past he has been en- gaged on the same problem, and asking me if I had been more fortunate than himself. If we may believe him, he has already obtained astonishing results. Yet he hegs, me to tell him if I think it possible. I must say that such incoherent ideas surprised me. I was ex- tremely reserved and discreet in my reply, though I wrote him straightforwardly and courteously, in order to encourage him to w^rite again. I have received a sec- ond letter from him only to-day, />., after more than a year, and he only writes now to know if I am still here, and to beg me to send him a print, as he doubts whether it is possible to entirely reproduce shadows by this process of engraving for which reason his own experi- ments have been made in another direction, aiming at a perfect result rather than at many copies. I am on the road to perfection, and shall cut short communications of this kind by a somewhat curt reply, as many of them
would weary and annoy me. Kindly say if you know M. Daguerre personally, and, if so, what you think of him."
To which Lemaitre answered that he knew Daguerre as a skilled painter, and that he had lately been busy with the camera-obscura.
On the same date, February 2nd, on which he wrote the letter to Lemaitre, which we have quoted, Ni^pce wrote thus to Daguerre:
** I have received your letter of January 25th. For four months 1 have done nothing, as it has been the bad season, but I have distinctly improved my process for engraving on metal, though, as the results have not yet given me sufficiently correct copies, I cannot gratify the wishes you expect. This I certainly must regret, more for myself than for you, since your process is quite different and promises a degree of superiority which engraving cannot approach, but this does not prevent me from wishing you every success."
Daguerre's later advances are referred to in Ni^pce's further letter to Lemaitre (April 3rd, 1827):
*• I forgot to tell you in my last letter that M. Daguerre has written to me, sending me a little drawing made in sepia and finished by his process. . . . that it is difficult to say how much is the result of the process only."
In return, Ni^pce sent Daguerre an engraved tin-plate, from which he had carefully removed
♦ CopyriKhted in the United States by Thk Photographic Times Publishing Association.
♦ Copyrighted in Great Briuin by The Photogramy Limited.
Copyright, 1900, by The Scorill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y., Post Office.
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Early Histoiy of ^otogrdphy
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the whole of the varnish. Writing, June 4th, 1827, he says :
"You will receive, almost at the same time as this letter, a box containing a plate of tin engraved by my beliographic process, together with a print from the same, which is very poor and much too feeble. You will see that I must ask your indulgence ; and though I have at last decided to send you this, it is only in re- sponse to your wish. I believe, however, that a process of this kind is not to be despised, since I have been able, though completely ignorant of drawing and engraving, to obtain a like result. I beg you to give me your opin- ion of it. The result is dot even recent ; it was made last spring. Since then I have been busy in other direc- tions."
In Augn^, 1827, Ni^pce learnt that his brother Claude wae seriously ill, and he therefore set out for England. He passed through Paris and naturally met with Daguerre. Thus, in letters to his son Isidore, dated 2nd and 4th of Septem- ber, 1827, Ni^pce says :
•* . . . M. Daguerre persists in believing that I am more advanced than himself in the researches which interest us. At any rate his process and mine are quite different. . . . M. Daguerre has been successful in fixing some of the colored rays of the spectrum. He has already succeeded in combining three and is work- ing to unite the remaining four. But the difficulties which he encounters increase in proportion to the modi- fications which this substance must undergo in order to retain many colors at the same time.
On reaching England, Ni^pce found his brother ill in body and mind. He remained with him at Kew for some weeks, where be made the acquaintance of Francis Bauer, a Fellow of the Royal Society, at whose sugges- tion he drew up a paper on his beliographic work for the Royal Society. It did not, how- ever, disclose the method adopted by Ni^pce, and was therefore not accepted by the Society, though, as Bauer pointed out in T/tc Literary Gazette in 1839, it remained several weeks in the hands of Fellows of the Society, and was accompanied by several specimens. This paper, which is dated December 8th, 1827, was never published until M. Fouque inserted it in his book, La V/rit/, etc., from which we now quote it :
" Note on Some Results Obtained Spontaneously by THE Action of Lkjht. •* The experiments which I have the honor to present are the first results of my long researches on fixing the mages of objects by the action of light, and of repro- ducing them by means of engraving processes. 1 was occupied with these reseaiches, when a recent circum- stance necessitated my departure for England. Hence I have been prevented from continuing them and from arriving at better results. I therefore desire that my results should be regarded not so much as works of ait
as means thereto. At the same time, 1 may claim indul- gence for my work, which will be the more readily granted when it is remembered that it is the first step into an entirely new field. No doubt my framed designs made on tin are too feeble. This defect arises mainly from the fact that the lights do not sufficiently contrast with the shadows, resulting from the metallic reflection. It would be easy to remedy this by giving more whiteness and luster to the parts representing the effects of light, and by receiving the impressions of this fluid on a silver plate weil-polished and browned. For then the contrast between the white and the black would be more pronounced, and this last color, rendered mure intense by some chemical reagent, would lose the brilliant reflection which strikes the eyes with a sense of incongruity.
'• My attempts at engraving still leave much to be de- sired in point of purity of reproduction and depth of "cut,** and I was only persuaded to present them in order to record this important discovery and the possi- bility of improving it. The obstacles which I have had to surmount are less those of the process than the in- sufficiency of my own resources in an art to which 1 am a stranger. It may be noted that this process can be applied to copper as well as tin. I have also made many successful attempts on stone, and I can well believe that glass would be perhaps suitable. After the comple- tion of the process the engraved portions would be slightly blackened and the plate laid on white paper when a vigorous image would result. "
•• M. Daguerre, painter of the Diorama, of Paris, has advised me not to neglect this method of application which, while it would not have the advantage of rapid multiplication of the copies, may be regarded as ex- tremely suitable for rendering all the details of nature.
'* Among the principal means of improving the process, optics must be placed first. I have hitherto been de- prived of this aid in one or two attempts at direct pic- tures in the camera. It is, however, only by means of perfect apparatus that one can expect to obtain a foithful image from nature, and fix it faithfully.
** I regret that I cannot explain other points of im- provement more directly connected with my discovery, and, therefore, more worthy of note ; but I shall not refer to these, especially as this explanation is not absolutely necessary for the possibility of an expression of opinion on the subject to which it relates.
** I have set myself to the solution of a problem which is of considerable importance in the arts of drawing and engraving. If 1 have not yet been able to realize the results necessary to its full and complete solution, I have at least indicated those which, at the present stage of my researches, can do much to bring about this result, although they may be secondary. It will be understood that the chief difficulty was in the essential of the pro- cess, and this difficulty being overcome leads me to be- lieve that I shall be able to produce much better results when I have at my disposal facilities which up to now I have not had.
**I will say nothing of the advantages which my process offers in the several applications of which it is capable. I will merely mention it as having sufficient novelty of its own to recommend it to the attention of the curious.
I wish to formally declare that I am the author of this discovery, that I have confided the secret to no one, and
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ON THC BRONX.
Cof^yright^ iSqg^ by R. F. TurnbuU.
that this is the first occasion on which I have publicly re- ferred to it. Nic6phore NifepcE."
Ni^pce was equally unsuccessful in getting the plates which he had handed to M. Aiton shown to the King at Windsor. He returned to France in January, 1828, and his brother died early the next month, an event which put a stop to Ni^pce's heliographic work for some months. But in August, 1828, he wrote to
Lemaitre to say that he was reaching the end he had had in view ; that he was then working direct from nature with one of Wollaston's cameras. On October 4th, 1829, he wrote to Lemaitre as follows :
** When I was in Paris, and even since my return M. Daguerre has expressed the desire to know more of my heliographic researches. I am, therefore, sending him anjattempt on a silver plate of a landscape taken in the
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camera. As I anticipated that it will interest you if only for its novelty, and whatever its defects, I beg you to give me your opinion. You will notice that the land- scape is very unsuitable for the process, as the objects are lighted from behind, or at any rate very obliquely during a part of the time, producing, naturally, a harsh appearance. But you will see from the fidelity with which some details are rendered what the results would be under other circumstances."
Lemaitre, who on receipt of this letter visited Daguerre, replied as follows :
*' . . . One criticism I will pass in which I concur with M. Daguerre. It is that the two sides of the house, which are in reality op- posite and parallel, are in your reproduction simi- larly lighted. Even though the Objects are lighted from behind or obliquely, twb opposite and parallel walls can- not be similarly lighted. We have attributed this to the long exposure, during which the sun changes its position."
In a letter to Le- maitre (October 25th» 1829) we find Niepce beginning to favor the idea of a part- ner ship vi^ith Da- guerre.
*' You are under the impression that my plate* is engraved. It is not. It is only black- ened, without using acid, by a process, my own unskilfulness in the use of which has given me little success, the black
♦ This refers to the silver ate m letter.
f)]ate mentioned in the previous et
WILLIAM HCNRY POX TALBOT. Born^ Feb. 11 tk, iSoo.
depositing on the least pronounced parts of the print. Hence I have been obliged to remove it as well as I could with very soft linen. My object was to obtain all the gradations of black and white on this silver plate, and I think that with greater care and skill I shall be able to make good use of this process. You were right in attributing one of its most striking defects to the long exposure. Unfortunately it is impossible to avoid this. . , . In order to obtain success, the ex- posure must be short, i.e., the image must be sharp and brilliant. For this, a camera as perfect as M. Dag- uerre's is necessary, and without it I fear that I shall be only partly successful. *' I am, therefore, anxious to reply to his proposals, and to invite him to co-operate
with me in the perfec- tion of my heliographic processes, and to share in the benefits which will spring from our complete success. I have told him that by making the same offer to yourself I should like to find an additional guarantee of success the utilization of your good talents."
To this Lemaitre replied that Daguerre had greatly improved the camera and mode of using it, and that no one could better co-operate with him in the development of heliography. Da- guerre, he said, did not favor the idea of working for an en- graving process, but was anxious for Niepce to devote himself to the per- fection of the pro- cess apart from this. To be continued.
BURNT-EM PHOTOGRAPHS ON WINDOW GLASSES AND GLASS PAINTING.
BY P. C. DUCHOCHOIS.
THE green, blue, and purple, termed enamels, are sometimes also applied on that side. One often applies enameled glasses on small subjects, and on the borders of windows. These glasses are incolorous. One paints them with colored enamels; blue with cobalt, green with burnt copper, purple with manganese, etc., prepared with the general flux (rocaille).
To resume: '*The glasses composing the different parts of the human figure are of two .sorts: one painted on its surface with pigments, afterwards vitrified (glass-painting); the other stained with the material which colors it {glass staining). Generally the first enters into the composition of the nude parts of the figure, as the face, the arms and hands, the feet; the second enters into that of the draperies, all the pieces of glass being united by strips of lead.
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It is not necessary for an effective whole that the painted glass, viewed closely, exhibits fine hatchings, careful stippling, or well blended colors, for, with the stained glass of the draper- ies, they must compose a system which com- pares with a painting in flat tints. No doubt that a painting on glass — entirely executed in chiaro oscuro, will have this disadvantage over the other, without speaking of the cost of exe- cution, that the finish in the details will entirely disappear, as before explained, at the distance where the spectator will be placed, and that the view of the whole will be less distinct, for the first condition in every work of art is that it be represented without confusion, and as distinctly as possible. In a word the causes of the beau- tiful effect of painted- windows are due: first, to the composition of a very simple design, so that the different defined parts may be seen without confusion from a certain distance; second, to the ensemble of colored parts distributed with a kind of symmetry, and which are, at the same time, vividly contrasted, not only among them-
selves, but also by the opaque parts which cir- cumscribe them; and, third, to the transparency and brilliancy of the glasses into which the col- oring matters should have been incorporated by fusion, transparency that the painted glasses do not possess to the same degree.
After the first firing the painting is not fin- ished, because the tone of the colors is lowered by the heat, especially if they are prepared by mixing Consequently, it is afterwards neces- sary to strengthen the parts which are weak- ened, and to harmonize the ensemble. Sometimes it is also useful to make some retouches after the second firing. A third vitrification should then be done, but the colors could not very well stand another fire, as many of them would be much in danger of being altered by the suc- cessive action of the intense heat, and would tend to vanish.
For the retouches or working over after fir- ing, one should reconstitute the whole design on the easel, as has been explained.
U. C. IVarner.
First Prise, Landscape Class,
Copyrighted /Sqq, by Geo. E. Matthews &* Co.
The Illustrated Buffalo Express Contest for Amateur Photographers, i8gg.
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A Decorative Photographer
[March
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fATHeR- FORGIVe ■ TH€M THeY • KNOW • NOT • WHAT ■ THeY • DO -I-TO • DAY-THO\ MQTH€R -i- MY ■ GOD • MY • GOD • WHY HAST • THOV ■ FORSAKEN • Mg + I ■ TH IF
F. Holland Day.
A DECORATIVE PHOTOGRAPHER. F. H. DAY.
M
BY SADAKICHI HARTMANN.
R. F. H. DAY'S photographic art is an art full of delicacy, refine- ment and subtlety, an art full of deep thought and charm, full of dreamy fascinations. This is as much as to say that it is not the kind of work to please everybody. It appeals rather to the intellectual and the refined ; to those, in a word, who can understand and can feel — such as those who love and appreciate Mr. Day's work ; their support is enough to establish an artist's reputation, and that in a manner far preferable to the notoriety achieved by much of the transient, garish work of the day.
First and foremost, Mr. F. H. Day is a figure- photographer, intentionally and passionately decorative. As I stated recently in " Camera Notes," I know of no photographer who can drape a figure more pictoriallyor adorn a man's or a woman's hair with flowers in a more pic- turesque manner. He has proved in a rapid succession of admirable pictures what possibil- ities lie in decoration. His decorative feeling, however, is not complete in itself or affected by nothing beyond itself. It is dependent on many external incongruities, as dramatic effect, poet- ical sentimentalism, aesthetic emotion, and at *^imes even commonplace story- telling.
He strives to render our modem life more harmonious. No easy task, truly, in this age of ours, when everything tends towards the efface- ment of character, when uniformity of dress is almost universal, when the leveling of the classes is every day causing our personality to disappear more and more. A risky task, too, and one requiring a rare gift of perception for its thorough accomplishment ; for it is really a fine and fertile subject of study for an artist, conscious of his mission — an age like our own, full of elegancies and refinements of every kind and instilled with a feverish activity, throbbing perpetually throughout the civilized world, with its thirst for the joys of the moment, its love of pleasure and luxury, its craving for a life crowded with the greatest possible variety of sensations.
Mere talent for arrangement does not suffice, and neither does it suffice Mr. Day. He is a psychologist, ever on the alert, ever seeking for this —to grasp and to express in material form the individual characteristics of his subject. What do I care for the blood flowing beneath the skin, for the network of swelling and throb- bing veins? What matters the sight of the straining muscles full of life, if the invisible part, the mystery of this living being, be absent from the picture ; if I cannot enter into com-
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/;SHALrB€-WITH-Me,:lN;PAPjn;DIS6 ± WOM7^NB€H0LD THY \^ -r INTO • THY • HANDS ' 1 • roMMg^ND • my • spirit fi
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F. Holland Day.
munication with its spirit? I care not how brightly, how truly, the eyes may shine, if 1 know nothing of the thought, the fancy, ani- mating them. Even a flatness, or the projec- tion of a bone, or the irregularity of a line, a deformity even, gives evidence of some habit- ual trait which, if at times contradictory, is nevertheless always full of interest.
As I said before, Mr. Day's art is one of deli- cacy and subtle refinement To prove this, examine carefully the figures he so delights in. His subjects are intensely alike with the inner life, they seem heedless of all that might tear them from their own secret dream ings. They make no attempt at futile agitation, but are content with the thoughtful gestures of repose, the special poses and attitudes of pensive grace, in which the artist has fixed them. Look, for instance, at his portrait of Miss Ben Yusuf. How well he has caught her habit, her ordinary way of being, **all her little ways." One feels at once that the artist has photographed her with his heart, if such a thing can be said. The portrait thus conceived becomes a plastic psychological synthesis of the person repre- sented. He is not always equally successful with his portraits. He is too full of decorative effect to consider the getting of a likeness the most important quality. But his series of women's portraits, including Ethel Reed, Mrs. James Brown Potter, Julia Arthur, Miss Devens and Mrs. Kaesebier, are conspicuous illustra- tions of the harmonious concentration of vision
peculiar to him. Full of grace and investing the true likeness of their subjects with an ex- quisite fascination, they have a certain some- thing about them (which very likely could be traced to the arrangement of the backgrounds, the objects around and the costumes) that seems to suggest the very spirit of decorative lyricism.
We find that all his scrupulously studied figure compositions have a setting of their own and a special atmosphere. Mr. Day will have none of that strict exactitude, the import- ance of .which is so greatly exaggerated by most photographers. Imagination has too strong a hold on him for that ; hence the air of harmony pervading his pictures — a skilful harmony, perhaps somewhat pedantic and af- fected at times, but generally deep and concen- trated, substantial and mellow, expressing exactly what he wishes to express, adding merely enough to transfigure, magnify and generalize reality.
The decorative side of Mr. Day's work can, in my estimation, be hardly overvalued. It is this which impels him to those subtle effects of light and shade and those surprising ar- rangements of costumes and accessories, giving to each of his figures just those surroundings which are proper to that particular subject, which give such an irresistible charm.
Mr. Day is fond of strange and wayward fancies. He likes to strike rich chords, but muffled, as it were, by the mist of his dreams.
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F. Holland Day.
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What delicate poems can be found among^ his studies after the nude ; those graceful, youth- ful forms showing in calm repose on a back- ground of some idyllic landscape ! They appear in the twilight air, in which he likes to envelop them, like lovely figures of the past, telling of glories that have faded long ago. They are nearly always broad in treatment, without a trace of coarseness.
One feels that in all his works he is master of himself, master of gifts, laboriously developed in a most conscientious study and observation. Only in his ** Christ Studies" he failed (with the exception of a few plates); the simplicity of " Open Air " effects proved too strong for him but we have hardly the right to criticize, as he himself is not satisfied and willing to tackle the subject again and again until he finally succeeds. I, personally, wish him every success, for it is the boldest and most ambitious venture ever undertaken by a photographer, but at the same time I doubt very much if he will ever accomplish something perfect in that parti- cular line of pictorial photography.
His peculiar tourntire cT esprit^ recognizable in his whole behavior, is decidedly against him ; He has always lived the life of an aesthete, who appears to all at tTie first glance, as an extraordinary ex- travagant personality, one that ex- cites immediate curiosity. Strange stories, both astonishing and ridiculous are told about him, and he in no way objects to them. In serious dignity, he applies more of his imagination, for instance, to his mounting of prints, than to his artistic productions themselves. To pose is a necessity to him, as it is only when he believes himself something out of the ordinary, that he can accomplish good work, which is always an endeavor to realize something out of the ordinary.
Many anecdotes are circulated about him. Once a stranger visited him and knocking at the door heard a most cheerful "come in," but entering found to his great aston- ishment nobody present. He looked around everywhere, but could find no trace of Mr. Day, then
suddenly he heard a clucking sound, he looked up and saw Mr. Day sitting on a shelf right under the ceiling, wrapped in an oriental costume, smoking a water pipe ! There exist also dozens of variations of the curious theme, how he made his "Christ studies" He left Boston with a whole troop of male and female models, accom- panied by a wagon load of costumes, a wooden cross and other paraphernalia, for some secluded country spot in the vicinity of the modern Athens. Out there he went at once to work, had the cross erected on the top of a hill, built a sepulchre and prepared for a long stay. Then began the rehearsing of his company, and the sacred tragedy was played more than a hundred times on the top of that hill, while curious farmers on their wagons with their entire families, came from far and near to gaze at the strange spectacle. There is still some doubt in the profession whether he posed himself for the
MISS BEN YUSUP.
F. Holland Day,
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Saviour or not. I can hardly associate the appearance of this man, carrying al- ways a portfolio with prints under his arm, almost as large as himself, with the idea of his imper- sonating such an august personality, and yet his Christ in the sepulchre looks very much like him.
But it is time to come to an end; these general remarks are not, I think, out of place, inasmuch as they have a special bearing upon his in- dividuality and the place occupied by him among those few artists, of whom it may be said that they will in the future
be considered the representatives o f American artistic photography. If Mr. Day is not yet ac- knowledged as a leader he will be surely some day; he is winning his way slowly but surely, with admirable pa- tience, by dint of honest work, backed up by gifts of the high- est order, to the first rank in the near fu- ture.
Imitators he has in abundance, equals — in his own peculiar line of work — he has none, and he has probably done more to the creating of the ** new school " than any other individual photographer.
F. Holland Day.
ON THE PREVALENCE OF ^' CHANCE^ PICTURES AT EXHIBITIONS AND SALONS.
BY W. B. SWIFT,
OF THE matter of exhibitions, one might write volumes. I take time^ however, to but briefly touch upon that feature, from which I sin- cerely hope at least a little good may come. I speak of the standard of accept- ance. In doing this I fear I shall have to be uncomplimentary where it is easier to praise, but I fail to see how to avoid the disagreeable task when the advance of the New Fine Art is retarded and the art itself degraded by keep- ing the facts I have any longer ; and, I take it, we all place the progress of this New Fine Art above all other possible considerations.
The point, then, in the matter of acceptance at salons is that honors of acceptance have been awarded to men whose pictures are the result of chance. I have been watching the subtle prize-taking power of chance pictures for some time, and never even thought of finding any in the Philadelphia Salon. But things I
saw and facts I found suggested the- presence of the parasite of true photographic art — the "chance" result. I could hardly believe it. Chances had I seen before that took awards — awards at exhibitions where apparently the only things that had any art were the result of chance, and to award any prize here the " chances " must have them. But at so grand and great a show as the Philadelphia Salon to see this insidious foe even here creeping in was hardly to be believed. I thought if " chances " received honors here the matter was being car- ried too far. So I took the next step. I asked the exhibitors : " Is this a chance picture ? Is that a chance picture?" and, thanks to their honest souls, they said they were. These men and women made the way easy by this frank acknowledgment. Even the finding of only one chance picture in such a place is reason enough for the revision of the standard or method of acceptance, but I found facts indi-
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^^ Chance ^^ Pictures at Exhibitions and Salons
107
eating that the chances were shockingly num- erous.
However much I may try to advocate a truer art and hope for a speedier progress it is not for me to dictate. But it seems possi- ble, therefore, that there may be a higher standard of admission to the Salon — a standard that would through investigation — unreservedly exclude those often occurring "chance" pict- ures that any one — no matter how utterly ignor- ant of the laws of art and absolutely destitute of artistic appreciate and feeling as well as want- ing in execution — can by some technical mis- take fumble upon. If a man presents ten pictures from his whole life's work and only one shows artistic feeling and execution the weight of probability points to that one picture as a result of mere chance — only a happening that proves absolutely nothing as to the ability of the maker. The vital question is, should this sole picture be honored by acceptance at the highest tribunal of art in this country, thus stamping a man an artist simply because— as the Salon announces as its purpose — it has ** dis- tinct evidence of artistic feeling and execution '' before it is reasonably certain that said picture is the product not of chance but of a trained mind and a sensitive heart. Should not the purpose rather be exalted to the exhibiting of that class of work only that shows by numerous and z;jr/>^/ examples of the applica- tion of art laws that the maker is an artist? Surely if we do this, many will have to go. But for the New Fine Art's sake let us clear the ranks. In photographic art, number is the test of skill. Where the exhibitor cannot be personally questioned it is the only test of skill and ability to apply art laws. If a man presents twenty pictures that show artistic composition, it is reasonable to sup- pose him an artist. If another presents ten, nine of which are merely matter of fact photographs and the remaining one quite art- istic, it is reasonable to suppose —at least until investigation — that one is a chance picture and therefore him not an artist. While it is often hard to tell the chance worker, little and un- even excellences indicate the fluke
and the final test is the production of a number of artistic pictures.
In cases where we cannot tell we must ask the exhibitor. I hope this appeal for a higher standard will settle the matter forever. The New Fine Art is too far advanced now, and the signs of the artistic are too obvious and too numerous to excuse prize-awarding to chance work any longer. Henceforth let it be a mat- ter of past history (what I have seen outside of the Salon) that judges award prizes to pictures whose owners had not gained enough art to know before the award that their pictures were of any artistic merit at all. I have seen this happen more than once. Medals should be a recognition of personal ability, and a chance picture is nothing but mere sham; while the awarder of prizes to such without investigation is distributing unearned honors to those likely to be found unskilled in artistic treatment, un- appreciative of beauty in nature or anywhere else, and surely uninitiated into the subtle efforts of lights and lines — honors due only to that rare mind which perhaps after hard fought struggle, slow artistic growth, and long years arduous thinking has finally gained the new power to materialize his imagination in pictures
THE QAINSBORO* HAT.
F. Holland Duy.
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Care of Siber Bath
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STILL CVCNTIDC.
W^. E, Bertling.
and constantly lives in thought within that fas- cinating, ennobling, and educating upper world of art.
CARE OF SILVER BATH.
BY H. CLAY PRICE.
THE silver bath by continued use be- comes weaker. ; it is therefore neces- sary every day to test the bath with the hydrometer before proceeding with the day's work. If the test shows the solution below the strength required, it must be brought to it by the addi- tion of a sufficient quantity of the stock silver solution (see article Photographic Times, Janu- ary, 1900). The bath also becomes charged with organic matter, which can be removed by pouring the bath solution into a transparent bottle. Should the solution test acid, neutralize the same by adding a few drops of carbonate of soda solution, then set the bottle in the sunl
for three days. By that time the organic mat- ter will have precipitated. Filter the solution and it is ready for use.
While this bath is sunning, a new one is pre- pared from the stock silver solution for imme- diate use, as follows :
Water ii% Ounces.
Stock Silver Solution '35 **
A few drops of carbonate of soda solution if it tests acid.
This bath is used until it needs renovating, when the old bath takes its place, while the other is put through the sunning process. By thus working a bath is always ready and in good shape. After a time the bath becomes so charged with organic matter and chemicals that to resuscitate it requires boiling down to about half its bulk ; then filter, and to the clear solution add sufficient water to bring it to the strength required. If after all this the bath refuses to work, send the solution to a chemist to be refined ; he will charge you ten per cent, for refining and return you pure nitrate of silver.
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Suggestions on Pictorial Composition
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SUGGESTIONS ON PICTORIAL COM- POSITION
BY J. A. GALLAGHKR.
H E following of that par- ticular line of photographic work, known as pictorial, necessitates, to the end in view, that we have a knowl- edge, or know somewhat concerning the rules which govern the composi- tion of a pic-
Ge0. IV. Morris. turC. lu OUr
last paper, we dealt at some length on this point. We tried to make plain the great need of an understanding of these laws and rules.
These laws and rules have to do with the arranging of the various parts of a picture, so that its general effect will be that of harmony, and order.
It is very true that the photographer, in com- parison with the painter, has limitations; limi- tations that cannot be overstepped. The pho- tographer, can, however, *' select"; he should well consider as to the adaptability of the scene or subject to the means at hand; if a bit of landscape would not be improved by the intro- duction of figures, or by shifting the position of camera to the right or left. These are truly essentials that should not be overlooked.
Harmony and unity are to be the principal objects sought. By the preservation of a harmonious balance of lines, and light, and shade, pictorial effect is obtained. And it is also by these that the principal object or circumstance from which the story springs is brought forward most promi- nently. This is so very important, because whatever our picture has to tell, it must tell it plainly. This bringing the central ideal or pur- pose out clearly can also be materially aided by surrounding on tmk stour.
the principal object by those of a less attractive quality, or those which best illustrate its effects.
It is true that there are no lines in a finished picture; but the fact that the eye travels in all directions makes the various parts of a picture lines in effect if not in reality. In this way lines appear in all pictures.
The lines that fall more or less into the province of photography are the upright, hori- zontal, and tortuous.
Artistically used, they are valuable aids to pictorial composition; but they may also work to the spoiling of our best efforts.
By equality of prominence, or by confusion, they weary the eye. They can also hide the purpose or element of superior quality, which should stand out clearly, made so by the various lines leading the eye to it. The lines just men- tioned give to a picture dignity, repose, and mo- tion or unrest. How plainly this is demonstrated by the grandeur of lofty mountains, the peace- fulness and repose of an expanse of level coun- try, and the motion and unrest of the mighty ocean, "rolling ever, ever onward! "
Of first importance in composition is Balance. All lines should be balanced or compensated. One line counteracting or antagonizing another in its general direction.
By this, what may be called support of lines, a general balance as given to the whole. And without a due regard for this essential, a picture will appear weak
Lines running in one direction,//// — give a feeble and unsatisfactory appearance; they must, as before said, be compensated by oppos- ing lines in another part of the picture, ///\, or \\/. As an illustration of this knowledge
J, Carpenter.
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being put to practical use, we have "On the Stour."
It will be noticed that the leading lines of the trees on the left are nearly parallel, and that they lean towards the center of the picture. Without other lines to counteract them, the picture would be far from pleasing, as the trees would appear as though they were falling out of the picture. This defect is, however, over- come by the small trees on the right, which balance the trees on the left.
This example also serves to make plain what we had to say as to selection. It is hardly nec- essary to point out as to the result, had the camera been placed more to the left.
Leaving balance of lines we will consider contrast, which is closely allied to it.
Contrast may be said to refer to the opposing of things that differentiate, so as to bring out best effect of each, such as strength opposed to weakness, youth to old age, etc. As an exam- ple, note **A Sleepy Afternoon," a charming
|
||v'V- -^ ;f^^B |
■ |
A SLCCFY APTCRNOON.
bit of work by Mr. Norris. Everything in it bespeaks the quiet and peacefulness of a Sum- mer afternoon. Everything is " in tune." Note the effect of repose given by an expanse of level country. The point for our considera- tion is the cows in the foreground. Place your finger over the cows, so as to eliminate them; and the result, well, what remains could not be called a picture. The cows are the key- note, everything falls into its place. They not alone balance the picture, but being the darkest objects, are opposed to the highest light; also by reason of being the nearest, send back the dis- tance to its true position. An English writer has well said " that a judiciously-placed mass of dark in the foreground not only gives balance to the composition, but also increases the effect of the gradations of the middle and extreme distances."
At this point we desire to impress as to the great help that is derived from studying good pictures; analyse them; look for the oppos- ing lines, and the dark or light spots, whichever it may be, that balance the whole. By observa- tion you will soon appreciate that good pictures are built on certain simple forms, that groups are ar- ranged on a few simple lines. And these same simple lines and forms were used by those whom we know as masters in the production of their greatest works.
To be Continued,
PYRCXIATECHIN— As com- pared with Pyro-Soda, the re- sults, as to detail, are much the same, but with Pyrocatechin the development is much quicker, and the negative is entirely free from yellow stain. Cora- pared with Metol the image ap- pears quicker than with Pyrocate- chin, but before sufficient density is obtained the Pyrocatechin will overtake it. In fixing, the Metol negative loses in density ; the Pyrocatechin does not. As against Hydrochinon, Pyrocatechin gives more detail in the deepest shadows^ and the negative will be developed and fixed before the Hydro nega- tive is fully developed.
Gee. IV. Norris.
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The Feet in Portraiture
[March
THE FEET IN PORTRAITURE**
BY FRANK M. SUTCLIFFE.
Illustrated by the Author.
THE difficulties which beset the pho- tographer in taking feet are not so great as those which trouble him when dealing with the hands. In the first place no matter how much the sitter thinks about his or her feet these members do not fidget about like the hands, and seldom require much consideration on the part of the photographer. Only when the foot of the nearer leg, as in position 6, comes too near the camera, when a full length picture is being made, do the feet become troublesome ? A man with long legs is much easier to make a full length picture of than one who resembles Sancho Panza in spite of the fact that the latter may have "beautiful little feet." The same precaution about the use of short- focus lenses must be taken when photographing the feet as when taking the hands, and the same insane idea about small hands being more beautiful than large ones applies also to feet. Now that women have taken to outdoor exer- cise they are finding out that tennis and cycling and hockey in tight shoes handicaps them.
Photography has to answer for many absurd attitudes, but the one shown in fig. i is about the worst which has been perpetrated. This position is found rarely in ancient Greek statues and bas-reliefs, but when it does occur a staff or some other support is given. It is the want of this staff or spear which makes photographs of legs in this attitude appear so weak. We feel in most cases that the sitter only wants a gentle push and over he goes. The head-rest
♦Copyright in Great Britain by The Photograniy Ltd., and in the United States by the Photographic Times.
made this position possible when otherwise it would not have been. In many photographs we know the rest to be there though we cannot see it.
Naturally, when a person is standing, the weight of his body is allowed to fall first on one leg and afterwards on the other. The leg which bears the weight is not kept as straight as it would be were it not doing so. In conse- quence the foot of that leg is under the body. If a photographer takes a man or boy standing thus, naturally, if the man or the boy's parents have not learnt to draw, or to see, which is the same thing, they send back the proofs, remark- ing that Mr. or Master Jones's right leg is not b3nt as Mr. Camera has made it. It will not avail Mr. Camera anything if he pleads as a proof that the camera cannot lie. Either he must take Mr. or Master Jones again and let him stand in such a position that his legs ap- pear straight from the thigh to the ankle, or he must vignette off the leg where it begins to bend. Mr. Camera will most likely take Mr. Jones again, and will turn his legs in profile so that any curving will not be seen; he will have to choose that moment when Mr. Jones is bear- ing his weight on the leg nearest to the camera, or his legs will be as in fig. 2, instead of as in
Hz-
If only the end of this century saw the end of all trousers, how much easier and more pleasant would be the work of the photog- rapher, for he cannot make two pieces of stove piping fall into graceful lines, do what he will. Then, owing to the fact that some of his sitters do not take enough exercise to keep their limbs supple, they are not able to place them in graceful positions.
A man in knickerbockers or knee breeches always makes a better picture than one in trousers, for the creases in the trousers make irri- tating lines which take away from the lines of the figure. Here country photographers score over their otherwise usually more fortunate town brethren, for in the country everyone wears knickerbockers.
When a person sits in a chair, after a time he feels inclined to rest one leg by crossing it over the other. Photographers have taken advan- tage of this fact to get rid of the two parallel lines formed by the lower ends of the stove pipes. The most natural way of resting one leg on the other is shown in fig. 4 This is a graceful position, but many people simply cross one knee over the other, as in fig. 5 : this is not
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The Feet in Portraiture
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a beautiful position and it is often objection- able in a photograph because it makes such a long straight line from + to +. By getting the sitter to cross the outer leg over the nearer one this line is got rid of. (fig. 6).
Painters have an immense pull over photog- raphers in regard to feet. They can, and often do, discard shoes and stockings, and instead of as shown in fig. 7, we have as shown in fig. 8.
It is with children's feet that the photogra-
pher has more to do than with those of "grown- ups." There are certain conventional poses for the lower limbs of children with which the wise photographer or, I perhaps ought to say, the foolish photographer, will have nothing to do, for it is foolish to allow all our sitters to go to the opposition shop, by refusing to gratify the old-fashioned ideas of our customers.
" Good morning, Mr. Camera. I have brought my dear little boy to have his likeness taken. I should like him to be sitting on a skin rug in one, and standing against a chair in the other."
" Have you brought a skin rug, madam ?"
'*Oh, dear, no. I thought all photogra- phers had skin rugs, but if you have not got one I expect we must do without."
So the photographer puts the little boy on the floor and gives him some playthings, and makes his exposure (fig. 9). Then he gets the little boy to stand up firmly, as all little boys ought to be able to do, on both feet (fig. 10) which surely looks better than the legs in fig. II. All my readers will, too, I hope, agree with rae that fig. 9 is more natural than fig. 12, where it is evident that the little boy's petti- coats have been tucked up to show his limbs.
The fore-shortening of the foot is anything but beautiful. Why it should be considered the correct thing for little boys and girls to sit still in a chair on a skin rug when they are being pho- tographed, when they never do such a thing in real life is one of those things which a fellow like myself, who never was properly appren- ticed to the business, cannot understand. If only our young sitters' parents would let us do what we liked with their children, and if only the camera makers would make us stands which would go down to the floor, what infan- tile pictures we might get. Ah, me ! A big old-fashioned copper coal pan half full of coals, behind it, partly hidden by the pan, is a six months' old baby; it has a coal in either hand, its pinafore is as black as a sweep's, its mouth and chin are black, but the expression of its eyes is such as no skin rug baby ever wore. But to get even such a picture as that the old question of expense comes in. The light in the ordinary studio is seldom good enough for very brief, say from ^ih to ^^^h of a second exposures. To build a studio on purpose for babies would be a very hazardous speculation. So instead of being able to follow our young sitters about in the finder of a twin lens hand- and more unwarrantable
camera — more
ex-
^^
pense — we have to tie them to a chair leg, or put them into a chair.
Fortunate are we if we can make an exposure before the proud parent or nurse arranges the petticoats or legs of our sister. Whether the child's legs will appear more natural stuck straight out or hanging down will depend upon the size of the chair seat. If the mother or nurse does cross the child's legs, and smooth down its frock, and pull its sash round to the side nearest the camera, the photographer had
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Lantern Slide Making for ^Beginners
I March
better put his own ideas on one side and take the sash and crossed legs if he wants to get an order, for children have been taken thus for many years, and we are a conservative nation ; the photographer who has ideas of his own will soon find himself in the workhouse. Though children's mothers have been grumbling about the size of their dear one's feet for many years, they have lately increased the photographers difficulty by putting their babies' feet into white boots and shoes instead of black ones. The consequence is that they appear very much
larger than ever. Photographers at the seaside, too, sometimes have to photograph people in white yachting or sand shoes, but when the sit- ters see how the white shoes increase the size of the feet they invariably ask for the feet to be vignetted off; that is if the photographer has not screened the light off them and darkened them also by rubbing down on the negative. Now that our working lights are so much smaller than they were, it is generally easy to light the face so that little or no light falls on the feet, and so minimize the difficulties in deal- ing with these members With ladies' feet photogra- phers seldom have anything to do. Their skirts invari- ably hide them, no matter how beautiful they are. If fashion should decide that ladies' dresses are not to sweep the pathways and scrape the roads, we might get many pleasing finishing touches.
LANTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGINNERS*
BY " PRIMROSE HILL.'
III.— EXPOSURE— (DISTANCE FROM ILLUMINANT.)
(15) Importance of correct exposure,— \n our last chapter we opened up the important question of exposure.The beginner — with no past experience to fall back upon — may not know whether the exposure should be five seconds or five minutes. We showed him how to arrive at a solution of this doubt by making a series of exposures on one plate. We shall now assume that he sets about this matter in the way indi- cated. The first trial plate should have three different exposures of wide range ; for example, ten, thirty, and ninety seconds — /. e,, each three times that of the next less. Devel- opment, perhaps, shows us that cor- rect exposure is somewhere between ten and thirty seconds. Our next plate may be exposed fifteen, twenty, and twenty ?i\^ seconds. This will probably tell us all we want to know. Let us imagine that twenty-seconds at 4 feet from the gas flame give us the best result. But, for certain rea- sons (hereafter to be touched upon) we wish sometimes to expose at 4
feet, sometimes at 2 feet, sometimes at i foot and so on.
(16) The next question that meets the be- ginner is this : '* If I alter the distance between printing frame and light, how am I to alter the length of exposure ? " At the risk of wearying our older readers, we must once again speak of the "law of inverse squares," and put the matter in simple words.
If the reader will once for all just take the
Toronto Camera Club.
W.J. Watson.
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Lantern Slide Making for Beginners
115
trouble to repeat the following very simple experiment, he will, in five minutes, know more about the matter than can be gathered by simply reading half a dozen pages. All we require is a lighted candle, a bit of brown paper, and a bit of white or light-colored pa- per— a sheet of notepaper will do-. First the brown paper (or thin card). This may be also about the size of a sheet of notepaper. At or near its center cut out a square hole ; each side of the square should be as near one inch as we can make it. Next, the sheet of white paper. First fold it down the middle, length- ways, and then again, broadways. This will give us two creases meeting at right angles in the center of the paper. Now, with pencil or ink, rule several lines parallel to these creases, all just one inch apart. These lines cut up the center part of our paper into horizontal and vertical rows of squares, all just one inch each way. Now close the blinds or shutters, so as to darken the room. Pin up against the wall the sheet of white paper with little squares. In the left hand hold the candle, and in the right hand take the piece of brown paper. Consult the accompanying diagram : C is the candle, P the piece of brown paper. Now stand with the candle just two feet from the screen on the wall ; then hold the brown paper, P, just mid- way, /. r, one foot from candle and from screen. By very slightly moving the candle up or down or a little sideways, but still keeping it one foot away from the brown paper, you will be able to arrange for the light which passes through the one inch hole in P to just occupy 4 square inches on your white paper screen, S. Now observe that S is 2 feet from C, and P is i foot from C, that is, S is double as far from C as P
is ; therefore, the shadow of the hole P must be twice as high, and also twice as w^ide, that is, four times as large. Next, keeping C and P just I foot apart, increase the distance to 2 feet between P and the wall. Now the wall is three times as far as P is from the candle, C, conse- quently, the shadow of the hole is three times as high and also three times as wide as the hole
in P. Thus, we expect and find that the light, passing through P now covers " three rows ot three in a row " of our squares — or nine altogether.
Again, still keeping the candle, C, and paper, P, I foot apart, move away from the wall until the paper is 3 feet from the wall, and the candle is, therefore, 4 feet from the wall ; in other words, the wall is four times as far from the candle as the brown paper is. Hence the shadow of the hole in P will now be four times as high and four times as wide. Thus we find that the light passing through the i square inch in P now covers four rows of four in a row of our squares on our white paper. In the same way, at 5 feet, the light would cover five times 5 square inches. We have just seen that a I inch hole, P, at i foot from the light, casts a 4 square inch shadow, S, at 2 feet from the light. Consequently, the light at S is spread out over four times as big a space, so that it can only be one-fourth as strong at S as it is at P. At S2, / e., 3 feet from the flame, it is spread over 9 square inches, and consequently is only one- ninth as strong as when it is passing through P. Or at S3, /. ^., 4 feet from the flame, the light covers 16 square inches and is thus only one sixteenth the strength of the light at P.
At first these numbers are not realized by the beginner, because he is apt to judge by the eye only, which, in this case, is misleading. But let him verify for himself this law of inverse squares in the following way : Place a plate in contact with a negative in the usual way in the printing frame. Now, with a piece of card, cut to fit the front of the frame, cover up half of
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Lantern Slide Making for Beginners
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A PRKNCN CANADIAN VILLAQK.
J . P, HodgiHS.
Toronto Camera Club.
the face of the negative, and expose the uncov- ered half for one second at i foot from the gas flame. Turn down the gas, and shift the card so as to cover up the half just now exposed, and then give to the other — at present unex- posed— half an exposure of sixteen seconds at 4 feet. Then develop the plate in the usual way. If our negative is not extreme in contrast or flatness, but just an "ordinary negative," and our timing of exposure be accurate, we shall find little or no difference between the two halves of the plate.
The reader may ask, What is the practical application of all this ? The reply is, we must be able to readily estimate equivalent expos- ures for different distances. For example : we find that with an ordinary negative our brand of plate requires an exposure of twenty seconds at 4 feet ; but, for certain reasons, we wish to expose at 3 feet ; what is the corresponding exposure ? The simplest way to remember our rule is to say the exposures vary as the square of the distance. Thus, by a simple rule of three sum, we get :
Square of \ .^.^S first i ^s i "ISfond ^ ' is to i ^'«"«^ first distance f '*^°) expose j" ^ ] ^^^ p*^] required,
or 4 X 4 : 20 : : 3 X 3 : Ans.
/>., 16 : 20 : : 9 • Ans.
or 20 X 9 5 X 9 45
— = - = iii sec.
16 4 4
Or we can put the same matter in a slightly different way, and one very easy to remember and apply : -
Equivalent Exposures, Distance i .. 2 .. 3 .. 4 .. 5
Exposure
16
25
Thus four seconds at 2 feet is equivalent to nine seconds at 3 feet, or twenty-five seconds at 5 feet, and so on.
Now suppose that we know that twelve seconds at 3 feet gives us a fairly good result ; but we want to alter the distance to 5 feet. All we have to remember, that the relative expos- ures at 3 and 5 feet are 9 and 25, and to alter our exposure in this ratio. Thus our rule of three now becomes :
Thus :
25 X
9 : 25 12 25
: : 12 : Ans. X 4 100 — = — = ZZk 3 3
The accompanying reproduction (see previous page) of a slide shows us an example of equiva- lent exposures at different distance. One half was exposed for one second at i foot to a gas flame. The other half was exposed for sixteen seconds to the same gas flame at 4 feet. The plate was a slow plate of well-known maker. The negative, a very ordinary one as regards density. The slide was developed with i drachm
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A LONKLV SHORC.
Guy B. Stearns,
A, I drachm B, water to make one ounce. The darker strip in the middle of the slide is a narrow band, which got its share of each exposure, due to the covering card slipping under the thumb just as the gas was turned up. Thus we really have a threefold exposure of one second at i foot, sixteen seconds at 4 feet, and a narrow strip of the above two exposures added together.
( To be continued,)
FORMALIN AS A PRESERVATIVE.
PHOTOGRAPHERS are familiar with this most useful substance as a hardener of gelatine merely, but it has functions that might be useful to them in other directions. It is one of the best preservatives known of various ani- mal and other substances liable to putrefaction and other fermentation. Obviously the very property it possesses which renders it useful in the known direction referred to would prevent its use as a preservative of thin solutions of glue; but, without having tried it, we yet are under the impression that it should be an ex- cellent preservative of that favorite mountant of all — starch. Then, again, with carbon prints
in frames, which, under certain conditions, are liable to attacks of the mildew fungus, it would be an excellent thing, before placing the back- board of the frame in position and pasting it down, to place at the back of the print a piece of blotting paper dipped in formalin. Its vapor would diffuse into all the air inside the frame, and effectually kill any mildew germs, which are what may be termed seeds or spores of the mildew fungus. — British Journal of Photog- raphy,
CHEAP METHOD OF MAKING AN ISOCHROMATIC SCREEN*
TO those few photographers who make studies of flowers and colored ob- jects occasionally, the following method, by which a cheap and re- liable color screen can be made, may be useful. An ordinary lantern plate is fixed and well washed, without either having been exposed or developed. When every trace of hypo has been thoroughly removed, soak the plate in a saturated solution of picrate of ammonium, and dry in the usual manner. This makes a splendid screen where occasional work is done. — Amateur Photographer^ (England).
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APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING A STOCK SOLUTION OF PYRO.
BY ARCHIBALD B. HORNE.
OWING to the rapid decomposing action of oxygen on pyrogallic acid, it is extremely wasteful to have a stock bottle, which, when opened, allows the contents to come in contact with the air. Moreover, as it is impossible to ascertain the strength of a partly oxidized pyro solution, we can never be sure of results. For this reason the herein described apparatus has been designed, the two small bottles of which absorb the oxygen, allowing nothing but harmless gases to reach the pyro.
The requisites are : One quart and two pint bottles, with rubber stoppers to fit, each having two perforations % of an inch in diameter; 6 feet of glass tubing ^ inch in diameter, one foot rubber tubing % inch in diameter, and a clip to close the rubber tubing. The glass tube can be bent in an ordinary gas flame, and the apparatus put together as illustrated.
The two pint bottles are then filled with a strong solution of hydroxide of potassium, pyrogallol, and water. When purchasing the potassium hydroxide
ask for caustic potass. You will get it much cheaper, even if it is the same thing.
The large bottle contains the pyrogallic acid solution, a good formula for which is as fol- lows:
Take distilled water 20 fl. ounces
Dissolve therein sulphite soda
(crystals) 8 av. ounces
Add:
Sulphuric acid 2 drams
" Schering's " Pyro 2 ounces
Then water to make 32 fl. ounces
This willy?// the quart bottle, which is neces- sary to exclude the air, which would otherwise partly oxidize the developer.
The alkali for this developer is made as fol- lows:
Water 20 fl. ounces
Sulphite soda (crystal s) 4 ounces
Carbonate soda (granulated). . 2 ounces Carbonate of potash (granu- lated) 2 ounces
Add water to make 32 fl. ounces
This alkali is concentrated, and for use must be diluted in the proportion of i fl. oz. of alkali to 7 fl. oz. of water.
For development take 3 fl. ounces of diluted alkali solution to 2 drams oipyro solution^ more or less, as required for any effect which might be desired.
This Developer will be found to work very well with most plates, but was especially for- mulated for those of Car butt manufacture.
In cases where the contrasts of the subject are excessively great, and there are many gra- dations in the picture between the high lights and shadows, aim to get detail first, and wait for density. This means that in practice you must keep the pyro, or whatever reducer you use, low, and avoid bromide unless it is neces- sary to prevent the fogging of the plate. — Amateur Photographer^ England,
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PHOTOGRAPHS IN COLOR.
ULYSSES G. OKU.
A PLEASING range of tone can readily be -obtained on slow bromide papers, such as argo and vinco, by adding . to the developer a restrainer which allows of prolonged exposure with- out fogging the resulting prints. The colors ob- tainable are green, brown, orange, and red, with their intermediate shades. The prints closely resemble carbon prints, without the troublesome manipulations necessary in carbon printing.
Having conducted a series of experiments recently with a view of getting away from the cold black and white so much used, I offer a simple method of obtaining a wide range of colors suitable for various subjects.
Either metol or hydrochinon can be used, but the most satisfactory results, on the whole, are obtained by the use of a combination of the two. Prepare the developer according to the following formula: Water, i oz.; metol, .7 gr.; sodium sulphite, 24 gr.; hydrochinon, 3 gr.; sodium carbonate, 40 gr.; potassium bro- mide, I to 10, 5 drops.
This developer will give a good black. Make a stock restrainer composed of water, 1 oz.; ammo- nium bromide, 20 gr.: ammonium carbonate, 20 gr.
The exposure will be many times that necessary for black tones, and unless Welsbach gaslight can be used, daylight will be found less trying to the patience, particularly when red or brown prints are wanted. Different exposures will, of course, be required for the various grades of papers. For use, one ounce of developer is diluted with an equal quantity of water and stock restrainer added in varying proportions. For prints
in green: add 4 drams stock restrainer. Ex- posure should be about 30 times that required for black tones.
Brown: use 6 drams stock restrainer instead of 4 and expose about 120 times exposure for black.
Orange: use 8 drams stock and expose about 60 times exposure for black.
Red: use 12 drams stock and expose about 150 times exposure for black.
The brown obtained by the use of six drams stock is a pleasing yellow brown. A red-brown can be obtained by using the developer as pre- pared for red tones and exposing about 30 times the exposure for black.
A good quick printing negative, and above undiluted developer, will produce a black print at noon on a clear day, this time of the year, at the unobstructed north window, in about i-ioth second, so for red tones about 15 seconds would be required; with gaslight at 4*4 inches, about
THK PLKASURKS OP aOUT.
J,J.Wo0lnoMgk
Toronto Camera Ciub,
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121
ROaKRS* PASS. ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
£■, Stam/ier,
Toronto Camera Club.
20 minutes and with Welsbach light, about 7 minutes will be necessary. The longer the ex- posure and consequently the shorter the devel- opment, the yellower the tone; the longer the development the browner the tone. Develop- ment must not be carried too far or the print will be darker than desired. All the colors dry darker than they appear when wet, and, with the exception of the green, change color. The
orange before drying is a lemon yellow, the red is a light yellowish terra cotta which dries a bright Bartolozzi red. If the prints are muddy without proper contrast, the exposure has been too long. A plain one-to-four hypo bath maj' be used to fix prints in, but the special alum or other fixing baths, recommended by the in- structions accompanying the various kinds of paper, are better.
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A Hand Camera Abroad
[March
A HAND CAMERA ABROAD.
BY T. J. PRESTON, JR.
N view of the coming Paris Exposition and the many cam- eras which will un- doubtedly find their way into the nooks and comers of the Old World, carried in the hands of American "fiends," perhaps my recent experience in that line will be of in- terest to some of the readers of the Times. Having suddenly decided on a trip abroad mainly on business and necessarily a hun*ied one, I concluded a tripod box would be too heavy and cumbersome to lug around and would consunje more time to manipulate than I had to spare, and I decided to take a 4 x 5 hand camera. Having none suitable for the work I ordered one much after my own ideas ; it had no "let down " front, "but was ready in five sec- onds to take a snap of anything which presented itself ; of course the compact appearance of some of the cameras now on the market had to be sacrificed, but the convenience of having an apparatus always ready more than counterbal- anced the extra size. I had the box made sufficiently long to use a lens made by Carl Zeiss, of Jena, for a 6>^ X 8J4 plate. Series VII. A. this lens will cover at full opening a 10 x 12 plate sharp to the edges, and when used on a 4 X 5 plate it is almost like a telephoto lens without the corre- sponding slowness. This had its ad- vantages and disadvantages which I soon found out but as time was too valuable an item to use in experiment- ing with other lenses, I am satisfied with the results of the lens that it did as well for all round purposes as any I could have selected.
On groups of people or single fig- ures it was just the thing as it enabled me to stand off quite a distance and yet obtain a view of fair size on the plate, while on the other hand, when used on architectural subjects such as
the cathedrals of France, Germany and Belgium, surrounded as most of them are, pretty closely by houses, I could not get anything like a com- plete view of them and had to be content with " bits " ; views leading up to some tower or pin- nacles through an old street, having in the fore- ground some picturesque street scene, and making the cathedral do duty as a background. It is my belief that as "pictures" such glimpses of architectural subjects as these, which whet the appetite for the more, are to be preferred to those views which reveal everything at a glance and leave no room for the imagination. The lens was therefore, on the whole, satisfactory as far as angle of view is concerned, and working at as wide an aperture as it did, enabled me to obtain snaps fully exposed at seven thirty on a July evening, which would be an impossibility with the ordinary lens working at f 11.3 (stop 8) with which the ordinary stock hand camera is fur- nished; and I heard many bitter complaints of under-exposures from snap shutters using this variety.
The question of apparatus being settled, I preferred to work with American plates which I fully understood, rather than to depend upon getting my supplies abroad, stale perhaps, the working'qualities of which .were unfamiliar ' to me; besides, I could not be certain of getting
MARKKT PLACE. MAYCNCC.
T.J, Preston, Jr,
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the right size on the Continent as the metric system of measurement is used there, and I un- derstood the plates were made of sizes not corresponding to those which obtain here ; but wishing to take at least fifty dozen, and finding that such a quantity would weigh about a hun- dred pounds, and likely knock the bottom out of any trimk, beside the risk of getting broken themselves. I wrote to The Seed Plate Com- pany asking if they could furnish me with cut films of the " 27 Gilt Edge" brand which would be as perfect and as free from imperfections as their plates, and upon receiving their affirmative reply, I ordered the films made. It is but justice to that company to say that their guarantee was fully maintained and that the films have given satisfaction, and the entire quantity hardly weighed more than two or three pounds. I car- ried six plate-holders, and a magazine arrange- ment made to carry a dozen plates or films which has been recently marketed in New York. The latter was so satisfactory that, should I go abroad again with a hand camera, I should dis card the plate-holders and take three of the mag-azine attachments — instead of two — and thus have three dozen fresh plates daily to ex- pose if I wished.
I carried also a small amount of Ortol de- veloper, some hypo, and two small trays for de- veloping and fixing; at home I am old-fashioned enough to use pyro and soda for developer, but if the pyro gets out of the bottle it stains one's garments to such an extent that I left it home and took Ortol. About every four days I de- veloped a plate taken by chance from exposures
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TNC LAND or DVKKS.
T.J. PrestoHyJr.
made, to test them ; I found my judgment cor- rect and was therefore at ease. I used my room at the hotel at night for a dark-room, and covered the windows and transom with bed- clothes held in place by some very stout thumb tacks which I took from America for that pur- pose ; I had no difficulty in obtaining a satis- factory dark-room' and none of my plates came home light struck. For an illuminant I used a candle with a post office paper wrapping made to serve as a chimney.
For success in a photographic trip abroad I would suggest :
1st. The use of a first-class quick lens.
2nd. Use the same brand of plates you do at home.
3rd. Give full exposures — an over-exposed plate can always be made to yield a printable negative if rightly treated ; a plate much under^ exposed is good only for the ash barrel.
4th. Return exposed plates to their original package placed face to face, and label the out- side.
5 th. Keep a record of all exposures in a book for the purpose. If you do not wish to do more than record the names of the views, do that at
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A Hand Camera Abroad
[March
least, it will be of the greatest help during and after development; I num- bered my plates on the film side in the comer with small figures using a sharp lead pencil, and made corre- sponding numbers in my record book.
6th. Carry your plates in the steamer cabin with you. Don't pack them in the trunk which goes in the "hold "; the heat and dampness there is not good for them.
7th. Take an outfit as simple and strong as possible and be perfectly sure you understand how to work it your lens, and your plates. This being so, with ordinary care in hand- ling your plates, failure is impossible, and you will bring home such a col- lection of views as will afford you genuine pleasure for many a day.
rLOWCM aiRLt IN MWIS.
T.J. Preston, Jr.
A SUCCESSFUL PHOTOGRAPHIC CONTEST
OF the many daily and weekly news- papers that devote certain space in their issues to the needs and doings of the amateur photog- pher, few show such generosity as the Illustrated Buffalo Express. Year after year this paper pays out large sums to amateurs for the use of their pictures, and every year it holds a competition in which the money prizes offered are well worth striving for. The 1899 competition has but recently closed, and the results must be gratifying to the man- agers, as entries were made from pretty well all parts of the world. In this and our next number we reproduce, by courtesy of the pro- prietors, the prize-winning pictures, and we venture to say that a better collection — the re- sult of one competition — has seldom been shown. " Toil " by Frank R. Miller, of Boston, and " Toilers " by E. G. Boon, of London, Eng- land— the winners of the first and second prizes, I St Class, Figure Studies — ^are fine pieces of photography, and well worked out. Neither of these two men are new-comers to the photo- graphic public, and one expects good work of them. " Toilers " was also the recipient of a $25 prize in an English contest recently — an en- dorsement of the opinion of the Buffalo Express competition judges.
" 'Mid Frost and Snow " by G. E. Valleau, of Ottawa, is a clever snow landscape, and those who have tried and failed in this class of wintry work will appreciate it. U. C. Warner's picture, the winner of the ist prize is equally effective
Competitions of this nature are of greater value to the amateur than is at first sight apparent. They tend to create new interests, to excite more thought and discrimination in the careless amateur, who each year sends in a number of poorly made uneven pictures, trust- ting to win recognition by the ever-present ** chance " photograph, the which every one who wastes a sufficiency of plates will at one time or another produce. They awaken enthusiasm in those who do not possess a camera, and an an- xious longing to do likewise, and by conferring rewards on good work only, passing over that which is worthless, they help to bring about that which all of us desire—** more pictures and fewer photographs."
HARD NEGATIVES.
THE Photographische Chronik recom- mends that the plates should not be alumed, and that, after fixing and washing, they should be immersed in a weak solution of blue-green dye. This stain will be absorbed most in the shadows, where no reduction of silver has taken place. After drying the negative will print with less con- trast and give a better rendering of the lights and shadows. — British Journal of Photography.
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IID FROST AND SNOW." O. E. ValUau.
Second Prise Landscape,
Copyright iSqq, by Geo. E. Afattkcws ^ Co.
Illustrated Buffalo Express Contest for Amateur Photographers, i8^.
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The Amateur Photogfapher— (England), Jan» t9»
From the editorials of the English weekly photographic journals, we learn that considera- ble argument is going on regarding the value of telephoto lenses and cameras in war, and also the use of violet-colored lenses to detect the position of guns using smokeless powder. *' Colored Lantern Slides by Chemical Action,'
A RAINY DAY.
by John A. Hodges, '* Winter Evening Photog- raphy," by W. Mawer, and "The Question of Size in Enlarging," by C. Welborne Piper, are the main articles of this number.
** The Question of Size in Enlarging,^ by C Welborne Piper.
In the matter of enlargement many photographers place undue importance upon absolute size, and ignore the consideration of ratio of enlargement, failing to see that a very moderate degree of mag- nification is, in most cases, all that is required to improve the effect of a small, and, perhaps, apparently insignificant print.
It should be remembered that all photographs appear at their best, so far as their truth to nature in draw- ing and perspective is concerned when viewed at a distance equal to the working focal length of the lens '£ with which they were taken; and
M also, that by enlarging a view we
L^^^^ increase that focal length.
^^^^HB Suppose a negative taken with a
^^^^^H 5 inch lens to be enlarged n diam-
^^^^^H eters. the result is exactly equiva- ^^^^^^1 lent to that which would have been
^^^^^^ produced directly with a lens of ^ focal length equal to n times 5
Hb inches, and should be looked at
■ from that distance. The nearest
S distance from which a picture can be
I comfortably viewed being about 10
" inches, it follows that all photo-
graphs taken with a lens of less focal length are the better for enlarge- ment, and, consequently, that with quarter-plate views, which are usu- ally taken with lenses of from 4 to 6 inches' focal length, enlargement is necessary.
The ratio of enlargement may reasonably be limited by the distance from which the result is to be viewed, as there is little to be gained by allowing for a longer distance, ex- cepting in very special cases. If the result is to be mounted in an album, we may average the viewing distance at 10 inches, a little more or less being of no consequence (an ^■. Nicoiai. album view taken with an 8 inch lens
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does not necessarily require en- largement). If the enlargement is to be hung on the wall in an easily accessible position, 10 inches may be taken as the minimum viewing distance, and 15 as a desirable average.
If we adopt the principle that the size of an enlargement should be governed, not by the extreme amount of magnifica- tion that the image will bear, but by the ratio of enlargement necessary to give the best effect from the distance at which the result will be viewed, we may easily arrive at the ratio desira- ble by the following rule:
Divide the approximate dis- tance from which the enlarge- ment is likely to be viewed by the working focal lengrth of the lens with which the original was taken, and the result is the ratio required.
If we apply this rule in the case of quarter-plate \ne ws taken with a 5-inch lens, and estimate the viewing distance at from 10 to J 5 inches, it is evident that the ratio of enlargement will only be from two to three diam- eters, or that the full quarter- plate will be enlarged to either whole-plate or 12 by 9.
Photogftaphy — (Eng^Iand) January 18.
An editorial on Amer- ican portraiture opens this number, and is well worth reading and taking to heart by our " new school " por- trait photographers. A report of a lecture by Professor Herkomer, the distinguished artist, is also given in this number, and we give below a couple of paragraphs which seem to us to ex- tract the sting out of the sneers of painters. As regards photography Henry W. Bennett's lec- ture on "Architectural Photography" is an excellent and readable article.
American Portraitufe.
An exhibit from ihe United States at this year's Salon provoked very general comment as to its strength in ex- amples of portraiture. We ourselves drew attention to it at the time, and in a notice of one of the annuals recently we promised to recur to the subject. We do so now, and we trust that the few remarks we have to make will be taken to heart by our friends across the water. We write in a condition of admiration for some of its features, coupled with a certain amount of dissatislaciion.
Our complaint against the pictorial portraiture ex-
THK SMOKER.
E. Nicola J.
hibited from America is mainly based on our belief that beautiful as much of the work is, and suggestive of character in a way which no " usual thing " dare hope to approach, it is by no means in the truest sense of the word portraiture at all. All trace of likeness in many cases is gone.
The desire for originality is allowed to over-ride every other consideration, and as a result we have portraits of quite harmless individuals, which, if faithful, would justify their immediate consignment to the gallows. In others the face and features are so subordinated to catch- penny tricks, if we may use the term without offence, that the catalogue is the only guide to the sex of the per- son depicted. We do not wish to be captious, but a portrait, we cannot help feeling, should also give us some slight suggestion of the age of its subject, possibly in some cases even a hint as to the color or complexion. We have had friends treated by the new school whose portraits, we do not exaggerate, were barely recogniz- able.
As long as these are entitled merely " a portrait," ** a
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Oar Monthly Digest
[March
F. Holland Day.
citizen of the United States," or in some similar man- ner, we take no exception, and frankly admire them. We take them to be not portraits of the particular model before the camera, but rather speaking likenesses of per- sons whom Nature might produce in one of her capri- cious moods after a careful stuJy of the photographs.
We firmly believe that, unless the photographers in America to whose work we are leferring pay more atten- tion to vraisemblance than they have bten doing, the school itself will speedily become extinct. This result we should regard as a calamity.
The basis of portraiture must be truth, and when truth has been sacrificed to an utterly false suggestion of other things, or what purports to be such a work has no real lasting power whatever. We should like to see what the American workers to whom we have been re- ferring could do after having studied the work of such men on this side as Crooke and Barnett. The class to which these latter belong seems quite unrepresented in the States, the gap between the extremely modern school and the ordinary photographer being a big one and al- most if not quite unoccupied.
We hope our object in making these remarks will not be misconstrued by more than a few amongst those to whom they are addressed. The slightest attempt at anything beyond fulsome adulation seems to rouse the bitterest feelings in the minds of people, who regard criticism as a personal attack. We do not think, though, that this holds good of very many of the sincere workers; in fact, the capacity for absorbing and profiting by the opinions of others is seldom absent from the true artist. It is your charlatan and trickster who must always be taken at his own valuation, and whose reply to a candid critic takes the form of virulent and shrieking abuse, and we hope that few of this character are to be found in the ranks of those whose brilliant and original work we have been considering.
''Professor Herkomer on Portraiture*''
Professor Herkomer strongly disadvised the use of photography by the student in art, for whom, he said, nothing could take the place of sketches and studies from nature. He summed up the case in a telling aphorism
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when he said that photogpraphy was of no use to those who could not do without it. By the advanced artist who was complete master of his craft it might be employed with immense advantage lo save mechanical drudgery, and he even admitted its useful- ness in snap-shooting a sitter in several poses during conversation, so that the most charac- teristic pose and action might be secured be- fore the painting commenced; such a pose being often too fleeting to record by the most rapid sketch or by the memory. The photograph, however, was of no use in the actual painting, since being taken from the painter's working position its perspective would be too violent. It was further pointed out that a photograph at the best could only give the superficial appearance of the sitter at one moment. It was the painter's duty to see more; to give that by which the sitter was known to his friends who saw him in his life; at the table or in the drawing-room ; not merely to paint him just as he appeared in the cold light of a studio.
The lecturer admitted that photography was used now by ail artists. On the Continent they frankly admitted the fact, though in this country there seemed to be still some little hesitation in owning up to the practice.
Wilson's Photos:raphic Mas:azine — January*
The frontispiece by Kough is an ex- cellent example of profile portraiture, with a rather curious lighting effect. " The Treatment of the Customer/' "To Reverse Negatives," ** Spotting Negatives," " About Mounts and Mounting," " Lighting in Portrait- ure," etc., are all articles that will interest both professional and amateur photographers. ^Llghtiiig in Portraiture^'' by F. B. Simpson.
It appears that many photographers lose sight of the fact that the parts of the face furthest from the eye should be darkest in tone, and the parts nearest should be the lightest, with a graduation of tone from the light to the dark parts. We will suppose we are lighting a face in the old way — that is, with the most of the face in light. We will also suppose we are working with a top and sidelight, so arranged that any portion may be closed or opened at will. Should the sun enter in the least, some means must be adopted to stop it out entirely, and narrow frames covered with tissue-paper, working on pivots close under the light, will do this effectually, while they obstruct but little of the light. Any sunlight entering the room and striking the floor or walls will make bad reflections, and will spoil every effort to make the lighting as it should be. I have in my skylight- room a screen about 2x3 feet, covered with white muslin and fastened in a head-rest. This screen when placed over the sitter is about three feet from the head when at its
Toronto Camera Club,
W. B. Blackhall.
highest point; but can be lowered at will. With the screen \ control my light. My sidelight is covered with material so thick that every trace of light can be ef- fectually excluded, or let in at will. With this arrange- ment I %et my highlights. Bring your sitter out nearly but not quite to the centre of the room, and about four or five feet from the sidelight, and turn the face so that the nose will point in a line parallel with the sidelight. Move your instrument toward the sidelight to get the view of the face wanted, and your background in the op- posite direction to suit. You are now working diagonally across the room. Put your head screen in position over the head, taking care not to cut off too much of the light from the top. You will observe that there will now be a diffused light all over the face, only the side nearest the sidelight will be a little the lightest. Now, open a small portion of the sidelight well in front of the sitter, which will let in a small amount of direct light, lighting up the prominent parts of the face. If the eyes are sunken, and there seems to be too much shade under the brows, lower the head screen. This will light up the cavities, but will render the face flat in proportion. Now move your head screen from over the head a little and toward the shadow side of the face. This lets on more direct light from the top, and renders the face bold and vigorous again, with the eyes well lighted. The next thing to observe is that the specks in the eyes (and they should always be
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Our Monthly Digest
[March
Toronto Camera Club.
IV, H. Moss.
there) are in both eyes alike. They should come on the top part of the iris, not over the centre, but more on the side nearest the sidelight. Should the speck appear in one eye only, the face is turned too far from the side- light, and you get the effect I spoke of, that is, the back part of the cheek lighter than the front party and to overcome this you must turn the face more to the sun- light, moving your camera to get the desired view, until this speck appears in both eyes. By turning the sitter more and more toward the sidelight, these specks are bound to come, and just as soon as they appear you may rest assured your sitter's face is lighted well and artis- tically. Of course, you can make the contrast stronger or less by using your sidelight. By this means you get that classic lighting of the nose, viz., a strong line of light dow n the bridge of the nose, and a highhght on the tip, and you get the eyes perfectly lighted, and the rest will in every way be all right. This is my rule, and I have never known it to fail. To light a picture in the shadow style, do not move the position of the face, but move your instrument from the sidelight to get a view of the other cheek. With perhaps a slight modification, the lighting will be just right. An hour of experiment will give you the points.
** A Heart to Heart Talk/' by John Tennant. The making of a portrait calls for a knowledge of three things. First, the photographer must know his light— what he can do with the volume of light entering his studio, so that he can quickly place his subject at a point where the illumination is suited to the most pleas- ing portrayal of the subject's personality. He must know how to modify or control his lighting to get the effect which his knowledge of the subject indicates as de- sirable. He must know how to arrange the subject within the picture space— the pose or composition*of the
figure, and accessories within a pleasing form. And he must know how to get the picture — the individuality of the subject, pose, and illumination — in his print, by ex- posure, development and appropriate printing methods. This brings us into possession of the elements — the old elements so strongly (perhaps too strongly) insisted upon by the fraternity in earlier days: posing, lighting, and chemical effect. We may sneer at these as we like, but they are the elements of portraiture and must be mastered before any refinements are attempted. It is all very well for men like Hollinger, Crooke and others to say : " We do not pose; we do not light; we develop and fix in the same tray — a dozen plates at once." Perhaps they can afford to say such things. The beginner cannot. They say nothing of the years of plodding, of the failures and experiences and hard times by which they mastered the elements. By hook or crook they have so possessed themselves of the elements that they are able to control them: they do pose, by the unconscious selection and ar- rangement of position and point of view; they do light, by the unconscious modification of illumination and the placing of the sitter; and they do know how to get what they want in the negative and the print. But the elements must be known and mastered, and the simplest expression of the elements is the old-fashioned phrase, '* posing, lighting, and chemical effect."
Rcvuc Suisse dc Photo^aphie (Switzerland)— December*
Of most interest is the article on ** Non- halation Plates and Prolonged Exposure," by E. D., in which the author appears to prove satisfactorily that while such plates give excel-
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lent results in instantaneous work and for ex- posures of a few minutes only, for prolonged exposures they are valueless, yielding halation similar to an ordinary plate, but not to the same extent. The author further tries to show that a certain amount of halation — for instance round a window — is present and visible to the eye, and consequently is not a fault of the plate but a virtue, and that we should not, therefore, attempt to suppress it.
Photogfraphische Rundschau (Germany) — January*
This, probably the most artistic of all conti- nental photographic journals, appears in a new and enlarged form. Pictorially, the journal cannot be surpassed, and amateurs needing in- spiration for artistic views are referred to its pages. Dr. R. Neuhauss continues his article on " New Researches on Lippmann's Color- Process," and Dr. G. Hauberreiser writes on "A Cheap Substitute for a Spectroscope," with which to examine ruby or other glass for use in dark- rooms. The short technical and prac- tical notes, collated by P. von Janko, form always a valuable department of this journal.
Photographische G>rr€spondenz (Aus- tria) — January*
A long article on " The Relation of Art and Photography," by Bruno Ni- ger, takes up the major part of this number. Heinrich Kessler has an in- structive article on " The Use of a Looking-glass in Photographing In- teriors," Prof. Eder on " Modem Inten- sifiers for Bromide of Silver Gelatine Plates," and August Leutner on ' The Use of Photography in Weaving."
*' The Use of a Looktog-gidiss in Phoiogtzphing Interiors,'' by Heinrich Kessler. A looking-glass can be used to good pur- pose when photographing interiors in which the distance at which the camera can be placed is limited. The reflection in the glass is con- siderably smaller to the eye and consequently to the lens than the objects themselves, and a larger proportion of the room and its contents can therefore be made to appear on the sensitive plate. The glass must be arranged vertically, with the camera to one side, to avoid reflection. The distance of camera from glass depends on the size of the glass, the larger the glass, the
farther away can the camera be arranged. The advan- tage to be gained from the use of a glass lies in the being able to set the glass at the end of the room, which is not possible with the camera. • This will give an equi- valent of more than double the distance attainable with direct focusing, and opportunity is also afforded to use a rapid lens of medium angle, instead of the slow wide-angle lens, thus reduci ng the length of exposure. Further, the exaggerated perspective produced by a wide-angle lens is also avoided. Of course the picture obtained by this method will be reversed, an advantage when using the single transfer carbon process for pnn ting; but necessitating the stripping and turning of the negative for other printing methods.
Photo-Gazcttc (France,)— January*
E. Mouchelet, in an interesting article, gives, the various regulations concerning the use of the camera in the streets and parks of Paris, E. Waller writes on "Focal and Perspective Distance," and in another article we are taught distinctions between Iso- and Ortho-chromatic plates.
080000C HALL LIBRARY.
IV. Bohne.
Toronto Camera Club.
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Impfxwing Photographic Work
[March
THE LEGITIMACY OF IM- PROVING PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK.
KY E. NICOLA1.
THERE is no doubt that the possibilities of pho- tographic advancement and the achievement of a higher standard have been tried to be interfered with by ridiculous rules and limitations set by certain clubs, photographic so- cieties, and exhibition committees. The retouching of negative and positive by whatever means, the employment of color, form only part of the finishing ; and this fin- ishing of course is limited according to the skill and talent of the worker. Every step from the beginning to the finished picture is the outcome of skilled manipulation,science,talent,experience.
Lens, camera, chemicals, pencils, canvas, colors, brushes, are but tools, till the skilful hand takes them up and sets them to work, di- rected by talent and training.
Whatever means are employed to create, originate, whether pencil, clay, or lens, matters not. If the creation is such as be of artistic merit and convey aesthetic pleasure — it is a work of art.
Of course these different means of expression- painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, have their limitations. Painting has no doubt the largest field, sculpture is limited; and so is pho- tography.
Talent and training are required in all pro- fessions, and the more we know the better the result, and an attempt to limit the means to per- fection can only be prompted by jealously and narrowness.
Brushes, pencils, colors, lenses, are servants only, and the masterhand alone can produce masterpieces with them.
Does a masterpiece of Rubens or Rembrandt cease to be a work of art, because reproduced with a lens ?
Is the music of Beethoven or Mozart no longer classical, because rendered by an automatic in- strument ?
Is nature, a portrait, a figure, rendered artis- tically, no work of art because photographed ?
Is on the other hand a botch work of a painter, painted from life or imagination, a work of art because painted or the work is personal ?
F. Holland Day.
A work ol artistic merit remains a work of art, no matter what means produced it.
Drawing, painting, photography are not art, simply means of expression.
Most everybody can learn how to paint, draw, to run an engine, to grind an organ, to handle an camera, but to originate and invent requires besides technical skill, gift of nature and train- ing.
It is no more ridiculous for the ignorant to take up a camera and expect to do good work, than to buy a musical instrument and expect to play without serious study.
The student with artistic training and talent will produce with the camera, work that conveys to us some idea, surrounds it with sentiment, appeals to our heart and sympathy, idealizes the everyday occurrences; in short, he will be the artistic photographer.
As said before photography is not art, and the photographer that makes negative and prints only, is certainly not an artist.
Colors should be used by all means for higher realistic expression and the art student must certainly be conversant with the use of them.
The beautiful platinum paper is admirably adapted for the use of water colors, and progress should be made in this direction, a further step towards perfection till some day color photog- raphy shall be accidentally discovered.
If the painter makes blunders in his drawing, he corrects them if aware of them and able to do so, and why not correct a few blunders of the lens; for instance, when photographing sun- set, the sun is liable to be small; a few touches with the pencil on the negative will correct this, but it is certainly foolish and narrow-minded
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Improving Photographic Work
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¥ A./ •
H. Hampshirt.
Toronto Camera Club,
of the author of the article ^^ V Envoi'' in the March number of The Photographic Times to deny the artistic merit of a photographic work on such grounds.
The writer of that article appears hateful in the extreme, as if seeing a foe in photographic achievements. All learning and science cannot
philosophize away artistic possibilities of the photographic work; it bears the stamp of indi- viduality; and imitation of style and technique should not be attempted, originality only means success . Inspirations we receive from nature, and the works of others should only be the spurs to greater efforts.
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OUP f COM PETITIONS
F
^ OR the benefit of such of our readers as have not seen how few conditions are imposed on competitors for the prizes offered conjointly by the Photographic Times and the Double- day & McClure Co., we give below both prizes and conditions of our various com- petitions.
In the book-illustrating competition, it has been decided to extend the time limit to Sep- tember ist. This is done, by reason of the ac- tion of two of the selected books, taking place in midsummer.
THE PHOTCXJRAPHIC TIMES AND DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO-
In association offer
FIVE PRIZES
lai Prize: $)00 Cash and the Photographic Times Silver
MedaL 2d Prize: $50 Cash and the Photographic Times Bronze
Medal. 3rd Prize: $25 Cash and the Photographic Times Bronze
Medal. 4th Prize: The Photographic Times Silver MedaL 5th Prize : The Photographic Times Bronze MedaL
For a Series of Photographs illustrating any one of the books mentioned below :
I. THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA.
By Booth Tarkington.
A story of Indiana city and town life. The hero is a young newspaper editor whose hostility to the White Caps of the neighborhood leads to an attack, when he is kidnapped and severely injured. During his absence from his newspaper, the paper is edited by a young woman, with various complications, the plot presenting many opportunities for clever composition and illus- trating.
I. BOB, SON OF BATTLE. By Alfred OUivant.
This is primarily a dog story and the central fijfure is Old Bob, a famous sheep dog, with extraordinary intel- ligence and character. The scene of the book is laid in England.
III. BLIX. By Frank Norris.
The love-story of a young Calif omian reporter-novelist. Both in the chance for picturesque views and in a most exciting fishing scene there are unusual chances here for the photographic illustrator.
These books have been selected with the purpose of presenting the best opportunity in several fields of work and subject, to call forth the best powers of selection and composition in the individual, which will in itself be an educa- tion to the eye and mind, and stimulate the effort of showing new effects such as years of ordinary camera practice cannot give.
The competition is open to every one in this and other countries, and it is hoped may prove to be the opening of a new and rich field to the photographer heretofore monopolized by the artist in black-and-white and water color.
The pictures submitted will be judged by the Editor of the Photographic Times ; Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, the well-known amateur ; and Double- day & McClure Co.
The copyright of the prize- winning sets shall be vested in the publishers.
No conditions are imposed on competitors, but the following few rules are set to govern the competition:
1. The competition'will close Sept. i, 1900, and all entries must be made on or before that date at the office of the Photographic Times, 60-62 East Eleventh street, New York.
2. Competitors are not limited in the sets of pictures to be sent in It is desirable that any one set illustrat- ing a book should consist of at least eight pictures, and as many more as the individual competitor thinks fit.
3. All entries must be made post or express paid.
4. Accompanying each set shall be the title of the
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book and a sealed envelope containing the full name and address of the author, together with a pen-name, or motto, etc., which latter is to be plainly written on the back of ^acA photograph, together with the title.
5. The copyright of the prize-winner shall belong to the publishers without further purchase, and the Pho- Tor.RAPHic Times shall be at liberty to reproduce in its pages any of the photographs submitted. The sets not winning prizes will be retiu-ned to the authors on de- mand.
6. The publishers reserve the right to purchase any of the photographs submitted (other than the prize-win- ning sets) at a price to be mutually agreed upon.
7. Photographs should be as far as possible on smooth-surfaced papers and neatly mounted on stout cards.
WE also invite entries to the following competitions: I. Lantern Slides — set of six on any subject.. I. Silver medal. II. Bronze medal. Entries must be received by April ist, 1900.
II. Study of a Child. I. Silver medal.
II. Bronze medal. Entries must be received by March ist, 1900.
III. Still Life Study. I. Silver medal.
II. Bronze medal. Entries must be received by flay 1st, 1900.
Rule i.— All entries must be for- warded to Editor Photographic Times 60 and 62 East nth Street. New York, and marked '* Competi- tion."
Rule 2. — No indication of the competitor's identity to be placed on the competing pictures. A ftom de plume (initials debarred) should be written on the back of the pict- ure, and a sealed envelope contain- ing the name and address of the competitor, together with a few particulars regarding the photo- graph and any other details of inter- est should also be sent, upon the outside of which the nom de plume must be clearly repeated.
Rule 3. — The competition to be an open one. Any number of pict- ures may be sent, but each one must be accompanied by another sealed envelope and a different nom de plume used in each case.
Rule 4. — All pictures for com- petition must be sent prepaid.
Rule 5.— The whole of the work entered must be the work of the competitor, that is to say, the exposure, de- velopment, printing, toning, mounting, retouching, and finishing.
Rule 6. — The prints must be mounted. Framing optional.
NOTES. All the rules given must be strictly adhered to or the competitor will be disqualified.
Absolute discretion will be placed in the hands of the judge or judges, but we reserve the right to adjudicate on any question outside the actual judging.
Awards will be withheld if the judges decide that the work is not sufficiently meritorious. The posses- sion of a Photographic Times Medal will, therefore, be a guarantee of a high order of merit.
The editor reserves the right of publishing reproduc- tions of any of the photographs submitted. No competitor shall receive more than one prize. Pictures may be of any size or shape. Any photographic process may be employed.
Pictures entered for competition will not be returnable. The awards will be as soon after date of possible.
announced closing as
ANORKW KMKRINK.
Copyrighted by Geo. E. Matthews 6» Co.
Illustrated Buffalo Express. Contest for Amateur Photographers,
REMOVAL OF SILVER
STAINS-
"To remove silver stains on negatives, caused by the adhesion of damp gelatine or collodion or paper to the film, the most satisfactory method is to immerse the negative in a 10 per cent, solution of common salt till quite moist and then rub gently all over the surface with a pad of cotton-wool soaked with a saturated solu- tion of hypo ; if fresh this will frequently remove them at once. If not, rub the wet negative gently with a 5 per cent, solution of potassium cyanide, washing it off fre- quently and repeatedly apply- ing, rather than allowing to soak. Another method is to soak the negative in a mixture of bichromate of potash and salt, about 10 per cent, of each, and then rinse and fix." — Photographic News.
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/. H. Dtwees.
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We congratulate Mr. Stieglitz on his ap- pointment by the Government to represent this country in the interests of photography at the Congress to be held in Paris this year. We know of no one more independent and better fitted for such a position than the clever editor of Camera Notes.
We often hear complaints from amateurs that photography is un remunerative and too ex- pensive. The record of open competitions which we are now publishing every month should, in part, refute these statements. With the Pho- tographic Times offering $ioo cash for a first prize and the Ladies* Home Journal offering a like amount, not to mention the many other journals offering prizes, there is good money to be made this year by industrious and careful workers.
article that appeared in the Times, and then ask our readers whether any one should feel ought but gratitude for the man who can write thus of his work. " As we know him at present he is one of the very best exponents of figure- photography we have, a man who always aims at completeness, at an extremely high finish, at beauty of sentiment handled so reverently that it becomes part of the imagination, an accom- plishment still very rare in modem photog- raphy."
In another column will be found an extract from an English contemporary concerning the extreme sensitiveness of amateur photographers to honest criticism. We did indeed hope this was an overdrawn view, but since that extract went into print we have received startling con- firmation of the fact.
We are now running a series of monographs on our foremost photographers in which their work is analysed carefully and without prejudice. But alas, and alack, one of the aforesaid photog- raphers, whose merits and demerits have been passed upon in this journal, living in a Western town, has access to the columns of a newspaper, and has made use of that opportunity to make or cause to be made a most unwarranted attack on his reviewer, and, picking out one or two insignificant items on which to hang his com- plaining tale has totally overlooked the real essence of the review, which showed clearly that he is a master of his art both technically and pictorially and worthy to be reviewed. We will quote but one clause from the
On page 34 of the American Annual for
1900 is reproduced a Paris street scene, the print being credited to R. Demont. Mr. Maurice Bucquet, of the Photo-Club, Paris, writes us to say that he is the author. We gladly make this correction here. While on the subject of the Annual, we take this opportunity to say that we are already beginning preparations for the
1901 Annual, and shall be glad to receive the co-operation of and all manner of suggestions from our readers.
Continuing in our series of Club Pictures we give our readers this month a selection from the works of the members of the Toronto Camera Club. This club can boast of a full membership, the limit— 175— having recently been reached. While this club has not as yet achieved greatness, there is apparent, from the pictures shown, much latent strength and ear- nestness of purpose, and we doubt not that it will, before many years are past, take equal rank with the foremost clubs of this and conti- nental countries.
We are frequently asked to crititize prints. If our readers will favor us with their ideas on the matter, we will consider the feasibility of devoting a page each month to individual con- structive criticism of prints submitted by sub- scribers.
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The Blair Camera Co. of Rochester, N. Y. are offer- ing a number of new designs in camera construction for this season. The 4x5 Weno Hawk-Eye, which retails for $8.00, deserves special mention, as it is without doubt the smallest non-folding daylight-loading film camera in existence for 4x5 photos. There are no removable parts, which is an advantage to be considered, and owing to the beautiful finish and moderate price, it must prove a winner.
Temperature and Photography.— Every photog- rapher knows that certain of his processes are retarded in cold weather. This fact has been used by some French experimenters in a recent investigation which may settle the vexed question of the nature of the action of light on a sensitive plate. They find that in the in- tense cold produced by liquid air photographic action is notably lessoned, and they argue hence that such action is chemical, rather than physical, since a well-known effect of low temperature is to retard chemical action. M. Frederic Dillage writes of these experiments in La Science Illustr^e (November 18). The experimenters were Messrs. August and Louis Lumi^re. and they first showed that for short exposures bromide of silver is not appreciably sensitive to light at a temperature of — 19T deg., although if the exposure be prolonged the latent image is produced as usual. With gelatino- bromide plates of the greatest sensitiveness the exposure must be 50 to 400 times as long at this low temperature as at ordinary temperatures. The plates, however, undergo no permanent change, and are as quickly responsive as ever when removed from the liquid air. Cold has no effect at all on the image after it has once been impressed on the plate. The experimenters find, however, that substances on which the effects of light are visible at once, instead of requiring develop- ment, as in the case just noted, do not become less sensi- tive under the influence of cold; at least, they do not as far as — 200 deg. , which is as low a temperature as was produced in the experiments. The Messrs. Lumiere note that their results are in harmony with facts already observed in the case of phosphorescent substances, which cease to glow when exposed to great cold, but resume their light-giving power on a rise of tempera- ture.—Zra^j/^i/zi?/? made for The Literary Digest.
Photographers' Association of Pennsyivania.—
Fourth annual convention, Pittsburg, Pa., May i, 2, 3.
and 4, 1900.
Prize List.
Salon. A certificate of Honor, signed by Art Judges,
testifying to artistic excellence will be given to any member having one picture worthy of admittance.
special Class. Professional Photographers outside the State. One picture only. No restrictions to size, ist. Gold Medal. 2d. Silver Medal.
Grand Prize, Open to resident members of the P. A. of Pa., in good standing. A Bronze Vase for the ex- hibit receiving the highest markings in Classes A, Band C. No special entry necessary. Portrait to be selected by the Judges on Awards.
Miniature Class. Twelve Pictures, smaller than cabinets, suitably framed, ist. Gold Medal. 2d. Silver Medal. 3d. Bronze Medal.
Genre Class. One Picture, 8 inches or over; subject to be chosen by the Photographer; the title to be ap- propriately inscribed on the picture. 1st. Gold Medal. 2d. Silver Medal. 3d. Bronze Medal.
Class A. Six portraits only^ 13 in. or larger, ist. Gold Medal. 2d. Silver Medal. 3d. Bronze Medal.
Class B. Six portraits only, 9 in. or larger, ist. Gold Medal. 2d. Silver Medal. 3d. Bronze Medal. Open to towns of 15,000 or under.
Class C. Six portraits only, 6 in. or larger, ist. Gold Medal. 2d. Silver Medal. 3d. Bronze Medal. Open to towns of 5,000 or under.
Class D. (A Rating Competition.) Twelve cabinets only. Must be framed in one frame without glass. ist. Silver Medal. To all others receiving a standard of 21 points or over out of a possible 30, one Bronze Medal.
Class E. Instructive Class. Four prints from nega- tives before and after working, with pencil, crayon, knife, stump or any other device, showing skill of work- man. No restriction as to size. Open to employer or employes. 1st. Silver Medal. 2d. Bronze Medal. 3d. Diploma.
Amateur Classes.
Class A. Six portraits, 6 in. or larger, ist. Silver Loving Cup, to be given by Morrison Photo Supply Co. 2d. Gold Medal. 3d. Silver Medal. 4th. Certificate of Honor.
Class B. Six Pictures, Landscapes, 6 in. or larger, ist. Silver Medal. 2d. W. S. Bell Silver Medal. 3d. Bronze Medal. 4th. Certificate of Honor.
Class C. Six Pictures, no restrictions as to size, ist
Silver Medal. 2d. Bronze Medal. 3d. Certificate of
Honor.
Rule 8. All exhibits must be accompanied with a card, same havini; name and address of exhibitor, together with announcement of the class in which entry is made. The name 0/ exhibitor must not appear on any part of h is exk ibit. The card accompanying the ex hibit will be numbered to correspond with the number of the exhibit, and none but the First Vice-President shall know whose exhibit is so numbered.
Any one desiring further information, may address D. Rosser. Secretary, 347 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburg, Pa.
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139
suiir scene.
Geo. Hersey,
Meeting of the Executive Committee P. A. of A.,
held at Milwaukee, Wis., January 8th, 1900.
President Stein in the chair,
All members of the Executive Board present.
The reports of the Secretary and Treasurer were read, showing a balance of cash on hand $1,201.43. The President appointed J. George Nussbaumer and George M. Edmondson an auditing committee on the Secretary and Treasurer's accounts. Committee reported them correct. Treasurer Frank W. Barrows presented his bond and was accepted.
It was moved and seconded that the next convention be held at Milwaukee Industrial Exposition building, July 23—27 inclusive.
Next order of business, preparation of prize list.
If was moved and seconded that the divisions be abolished. Carried.
The following was unanimously adopted.
The purpose of this exhibition is to show only such pictures produced by photography as may give distinct evidence of individual artistic feeling and execution.
From the pictures submitted for exhibition, a selec- tion will be made by an examining board, and pictures will be hung as in the opinion of the board are within the scop>e of the exhibition as expressed above. Each ex> hibitor will be furnished with a certificate of acceptance of his work. No pictures, whether accepted or not, can be removed before the close of the exhibition.
Classes.
Grand portrait class. Six pictures — sixteen inches or larger. First award, selected ; second award, gold medal ; third award, silver medal ; fourth award, bronze medal ; fifth award, diploma.
Genre class. Three pictures— sixteen inches or larger. Subject to be chosen by the photographer, the title to be appropriately inscribed on the picture. First award, selected ; second award, gold medal ; third award, silver medal ; fourth award, bronze medal ; fifth award, diploma.
Miniature class. Eighteen pictures. The largest dimensions not to exceed four inches, all to be grouped in one frame. First award, gold medal ; second award, silver medal ; third award, bronze medal ; fourth award, diploma.
Class A. Twelve pictures, thirteen inches or larger. First award, gold medal ; second award, silver medal ; third award, bronze medal ; fourth award, diploma.
Class B. Twelve pictures, the largest dimension to be nine inches. First award, silver medal : second award, bronze medal ; third award, diploma.
Class C. Twelve pictures, the largest dimension to be six inches, all to be framed in one frame. First award, silver medal ; second award, bronze medal ; third award, diploma.
Landscape class. Nine pictures, any dimension. First award, silver medal ; second award, bronze medal ; third award, diploma.
Foreign class. Best collection of photographs of any size, framed or unframed, to be delivered to the Asso- ciation free of charge. First award, silver medal second award, bronze medal ; third award, diploma.
RuLKs AND Regulations.
1. No exhibitor can enter more than two classes.
2. All competitors must be members of the Associa- tion, except the foreign class.
3. When one dimension of picture is given, it applies to the entire length or breadth of the picture in all cases. This rule applies to the size of the print, not the mount.
4. All exhibits must be framed.
5. The Association will not be responsible for any loss or damage to pictures in its charge, but will use all reasonable care to prevent such occurrences.
6. Applications for space in the art department will positively close July 7th. Applications for space in this department must be made to George B. Sperry, 1st Vice- Prest., No. 319 Summit St., Toledo, O.
7. All pictures for exhibition must be addressed to George B. Sperry, ist Vice-Prest. Milwaukee Industrial Industrial Building, Milwaukee, Wis. Forwarded at owner's risk, charges prepaid and delivered not later than July 14th. Pictures from abroad come under the same rule.
8. Exhibits for the manufacturers and dealers' depart- ment to be shipped to J. George Nussbaumer, Secretary P. A. of A., Milwaukee Industrial Exposition Building, Milwaukee, Wis. Charges prepaid, and must be placed in position by July 21st.
9. Have your box covers screwed instead of nailed. Your home address must be marked on the underside of cover for return of packages. The Association will not be responsible for packages not so marked. Put screw eyes and picture wire for hanging in the box.
10. All boxes and packages will be accepted at any time previous to July 14th, so that photographers need
SURF 8CCNK.
Geo. Hersey
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Notes and News
[March
A communication was received from the Photographers' Associa- tion of Wisconsin, stating that ow- ing to the P. A. of A. accepting the invitation of P. A. of Wiscon- sin to hold their twentieth annual convention at Milwaukee, the P. A. of Wisconsin will hold no conven- tion in 1900, but will join heartily with the P. A. of A. in making the convention of igoo the largest and most successful convention known in the history of photog- raphy.
There being no further busi- ness the meeting adjourned, sub- ject to the call of the President. J. George Nussbaumer,
Secretary.
Sylvester Ford.
not feel any uncertainty about the safety of their goods. No exhibits will be allowed to be removed from the hall until the close of the convention.
11. No manufacturer, dealer, or their representative, shall do business on the floor of the hall unless he or they rent floor space or desk room.
12. All exhibits must be entered under a number given Ihem by the Vice-President, and shall not contain any name or markings that shall reveal the identity of the exhibitor. Exhibitors' names will be attached after awards are announced.
13. All entries for competition must be prints from negatives made since the last convention.
Moved and seconded that the prize list and rules and regulations be adopted as above. Carried.
Moved and seconded that the Secretary be instructed to write to Mr. C. M. Hayes, accepting his kind offer to send for exhibition foreign exhibits, representing typical up-to-date photography of people, habitations and inter- esting sections of the country from all nations of the world, extending to him the thanks of the Executive Board. Carried.
Moved and seconded we appoint an Honorary Vice- President in each State to represent the Association in their State. Carried.
The following committees were appointed :
Medals and Buttons — Edmondson and Sperry.
Transportation— Nussbaumer and Sperry.
Hotels— Stein.
Exhibits and Decoration— Edmondson and Sperr>'.
Printing— Nussbaumer and Stein.
Programme— Nussbaumer and Stein.
Amusement — Stein and Milwaukee resident. ^.. .
Moved and seconded that the Secretary be instructed to write to E. G. Eldridge, Curator of the Layton Art Gallery, accepting the kind invitation of the President and Trustee to visit the Art Gallery during the conven- tion, also conveying the thanks of the Executive Com- mittee. Carried.
The Wikes-Barre Wheelmen
club will conduct an amateur photographic competition, closing March 3d, 1900.
The contest is open to all ama- teur photographers, and there are no restrictions as to subjects, size of or number of prints, as all pictures sent in will be exhibited.
A suitable list of prizes is offered, and amateurs will find the contest worth working hard for. Prizes will be awarded on the basis of originality, art value of compo- sition, and technical excellence. The judges will com- pose : One professional photographer, one amateur photographer, one artist, and one sculptor and designer. An entry fee of 25 cents will be charged each compet- itor, which will go towards the purchasing of prizes and return charges of the photographs. Pictures must be sent carriage paid ; otherwise they will not be accepted . No application blanks needed. Send the pictures, mounted (not framed), properly titled, and bearing the address of the exhibitor, to R. S. Kaufman. Secretary A. P. Contest, Wilkes- Barre Wheelmen, 106 South Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
To the Editor, Photographic Times. Dear Sir :
Can the Photographic Trust dictate to the Photog- rapher what goods he shall buy, and what other goods he shall not buy ?
If this question is considered in the abstract, the solu- tion is easily reached. No, the photographer cannot be made to buy what he does not want. There is not a single photographer, whether professional or amateur, who, on being confronted with this question, would not send the trust to warmer regions than is good for its health or the keeping qualities of its photographic papers. Yet, as a matter of fact, the trust does compel the photog- rapher to buy what they choose to sell him, if we except a few here and there. The Photographic Trust makes a dealer in a certain locality sign the required agreement not to handle cameras, papers, etc. , unless they are manu- factured by the said trust. Once the dealer is made to sig^ this agreement the photographer and the amateur in that locality are forced to use only such goods as the dealer carries in stock. The photographer may have
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his preference, and may be fully convinced of the rea- sons of superiority, why he prefers certain goods not manufactured by the trust, but when he is in need of such articles he goes to the local dealer, and, on finding that they are not to be procured from that source, rather than go to the trouble of ascertaining where the outside goods may be procured, he allows the dealer to lead him into believing that he can get along just as well with this or that brand, which the trust manufactures and which the dealer carries in stock. In this way the trust dic- tates to the dealer, and the dealer in turn dictates to the customer by making him believe that the reason why he carries only those goods in stock is due to their superior quality. The consumer— who, after all, is the one who pays the fiddler— if he would only stop to think, would come to the conclusion that it is not possible to get any fair suggestion or recommendation in regard to the quality of goods from a dealer who is forced to carry in stock one certain line, for what is the dealer to do ? If he must sell goods, and can only sell those which he is forced to carry in stock, he must recommend those goods as being the best — regardless of what they actually are — for it is the only thing he has to offer. If the dealer were independent, and would sell only such goods as was profitable for him to sell, either on account of the price or the qualitj''— which would make his position strong with his customer— then it might be possible for him to recommend to his customer only the best goods, for he would then have no object in recommending one in preference to the other, since he would then be open to buy and sell the best.
This is a subject to be considered by photographers at large, for it is bound to have considerable influence on the future of photography. Open competition is neces- sary for progress, and if a small manufacturer, who has something good, cannot put it on the market because he has not sufficient capital to '* buck " against the trust in order to secure the necessary outlet for his goods in each town, the professional photographer, as well as the amateur, will keep photography tn statu quo. Further- more, when all competition shall have been crushed through the support of the consumer, prices will be ad- vanced, and neither the dealer nor the consumer will then be able to help himself, as there will be no competition left to afford any choice.
I know of a photographer in one of the Western States who was lately approached by one of the represen- tatives of the trust, who, I under- stand wished to sell him some paper. Said paper is supposed to be sold* according to an agreement with the trade, at $1.35 per gross to the con- sumer, but notwithstanding this agreement, I understand that the representative of the trust offered to sell this photographer the paper at 50 cents, provided he would agree to use no paper made outside of the trusts, for one year. The position that this photographer took may serve as an example to others. He simply declined 10 enter into any such arrangement, although he had
to pay 50 cents more to a manufacturer outside of the trust for the same article. He gave me as his reasons for so doing that he saw through the scheme of the trust, which was simply to tie him up for a a year using their paper, and thus discourage any out- side competition, and when all competition had been de- stroyed then he, as well as others, would be at the mercy of the trust, and they could raise the price sufficiently to reimburse them for whatever loss they might have incurred during that year. This photographer was not to be caught in such a net. On inquiry I find that some of the goods not controlled by the trust are as follows: Photographic papers:
Willis & Clement's platinotype paper.
Mi lien's etching matt paper.
Disco printing out, gloss.
Disco '* *• matte.
Argo developing, gloss.
Argo '• matte.
Monox bromide paper.
Vinco developing paper.
American self-toning paper. Cameras:
Korona cameras.
Wizard cameras.
Solograph cameras.
Vive magazine cameras.
Bullard folding magazine cameras.
Kozy film cameras.
Adlake cameras. It would be well for my fellow amateurs and profes- sionals to make a note of this.
A Photographer.
The New York Dry Plate Co. were recently in liti- gation with Messrs. Semon, Bach & Co. for alleged damages by reason of the breaking of a contract for glass. The New York Dry Plate Co. won evei-y point for which they contended, showing to the satisfaction of the jury that the glass company tried to force upon them glass of an inferior quality, contrary to the terms of the contract.
APTCfl THC STORM.
Geo. Hersey.\
Digitized by
T/\e Gditor's TABbe.
Riley Love- Lyrics, by
James Whitcomb Riley , with life pictures by Wm. B. Dyer. The most beautiful of Mr. Riley's love poems are here collected and illustrated by photo- graphs fiom life by the Chicago amateur, Mr. Dyer. M r. R i 1 e y of course excels in this branch of his art, and we can add nothing new to the praise that is his due. But we compliment Mr. Dyer for the skill and taste he has shown in the selection of his pictures. They render no harsh note, so often pre- dominant in the illustrating of poems by photographs, but are in full harmony with Mr. Riley's exquisite thoughts. Mr. Dyer is a constant exhibitor in the an- nual salons, and his work is well and favorably known. $1.25. Bowen-Merrill Co., publishers, Indianapolis, Ind.
From *' Riiey Love-Lyrics* Reduced Illustradon
The Photo-Miniature, No. 9, Lantern Slides.—
These little hand-books are coming to be recognized as standard works on the particulars of which they treat. The last to hand treats of lantern-slides, not from the pictorial and artistic, but from the practical side, that is, the editors show us in clean-cut methods how to pro- duce good slides. We could wish that the illustrations were a little more germane to the substance of the book— show ^us, for instance, the effects of different exposures, etc., but aside from this, we know of no better hand-book on slides. 25c. Tennant & Ward, New York.
La Photographie des Montagnes. By. J. Vallot. Mountain photography presents difficulties peculiar to itself. Mr. Vallot, vice-president of the French Alpine Club, has given in this booklet some general and prac- tical ideas which recommend themselves to those fond of this class of work. 50c. Libraire Gauthier-Villars. Paris, Fr.
La Chronophotographie. By. J. Marey. A treatise on the application of instantaneous photography to the study of movement. 50c. Libraire Gauthier-Villars. Paris, Fr.
American Annual of Photography, 1900.
This annual is nearly sold out, and it would l)e well for those who have not yet achieved their copies, not to delay long, as we shall not print another edition.
We append herewith a few complimentary remarks.
'• It strikes us as being the best annual we have seen, and no photographer can afford to be without it." — Scientific American^ N. V.
"The illustrations deserve p)articular commendation, as well as the many valuable hints offered to the photographer. The book is an important adjunct to photographic literature."— T/te Camera^ Phiiadeipkia,
*• Always remarkable for the beauty and number of its illustrations. The articles will be found fruit- ful in new ideas." — Photo-Miniature, N, Y.
** Even better than the last in selection of illustrations and practical value to the student in photography." — Anthony's Photographic Bulletin, N. Y,
" Full of good things to repletion. The list of con- tributors and the illustrations are of a high order of merit, and represent some of the best workers in the American school." — Photo-Era, Boston.
•* The illustrations of this year, or most of them, show effort at picture-making, give evidence of individuality, and instead of being warnings of what to avoid, are really things worthy of emulation. It is a credit to its publishers." — American Amateur Photographer, N. Y.
FROM RILCY LOVC LYRICS.'
ff'. B. Dyer.
Digitized by
\ process ^ork ^
IRON IN PRIMARY BATTERIES; AND
A METHOD OF MAKING
COPPER-PLATES.
BY MAJOR-GENERAL J. WATERHOUSE, I.S.C.
N 1878-79, I was engaged in working out a process of photographic engrav- ing in which a n ordinary carbon photo- gram was de- veloped upon a polished sil- vered copper- plate and then electrotyped. Shortly after- wards I had the opportun- ity of visiting the Im- perial Military Geo- graphical Institute in Vienna, where I found a very simple system of electrotyping in use. It was on the principle of the Daniell two- fluid cell and consisted of an outer wooden trough suitably lined, containing a solution of sulphate of copper, and an inner trough consist- ing of a wooden frame upon which paper parch- ment was tightly strained, so as to form a porous diaphragm. The copper-plate to be electro- typed was placed face upwards in the outward trough, within six or eight inches of the porous bottom of the inner and upper trough, which contained a weak solution of sulphuric acid and the anode, which was amalgamated zinc for starting, afterwards replaced by iron.
When I came to try this method myself I found the paper parchment diaphragm not al- together satisfactory in use, and sought to replace it by some other material, finally fixing on well-tanned leather as most suitable.
The apparatus I afterwards used in Calcutta was on the same principle. The inner trough was a wooden frame with sides about six inches
deep. Over the bottom of it a piece of leather was stretched tightly while wet and fastened all round with copper nails. For the starting trough, with zinc anode, stout kid-skin was used, and for smaller sized troughs, with iron anodes, sheep's skin or ordinary leather, but for the large sized troughs good thick ordinary leather (cowhide) had to be employed. The large troughs were lined with lead and well pitched over; but good cementing, with elec- trical cement, was found to answer well for small troughs. The solution of sulphate of copper, contained in the trough, was kept at saturation by crystals of the salt, placed in per- forated boxes at the sides of the trough, which were lined with flannel or cotton cloth, to pre- vent dirt getting into the solution.
The silvered copper-plate bearing the gelatine relief was supported on a copper-plate coated with electrical cement on both sides, but carry- ing studs on the upper surface about a quarter of an inch high, the points of which were kept bright, in order to produce electrical contact with the under side of the silvered plate. One side of the supporting plate had a stout upright copper band riveted to it, and the free end of the band was fitted with a connecting screw. In this manner the plate bearing the gelatine re- lief, or the engraved copper plate, was left quite free for removal.
Before starting a plate, the solution of sul- phate of copper was carefully filtered into the outer trough and an amalgamated zinc plate, about the same size as the plate to be copied, with a copper band soldered to one side of it and wrapped up in thin cotton cloth, was placed in position in the inner trough. The support- ing plate was laid at the bottom of the outer trough, the plate to be deposited laid upon it, and the upper trough, with zinc plate, placed in position immediately above it, and the proper quantity of dilute sulphuric acid (containing one part acid to sixty of water) poured in to cover the zinc to a depth of half an inch or so. The connection was then completed.
As soon as the cathode was thoroughly well
Digitized by
1
144
Process Work
[March
covered with copper, the plate was changed into the ordinary depositing battery, with a piece of sheet iron a quarter of an inch thick as anode, instead of the zinc plate, the strength of dilute sulphuric acid being one to forty.
The whole arrangement was found exceed- ingly simple, and could easily be worked by the natives. The use of the zinc plates for starting was only necessary when depositing upon gela- tine surfaces; for engraved copper plates the iron anodes were quite sufficient.
These batteries were found very economical and generally satisfactory. We were not
troubled by deposits of basic iron, but the porous leather diaphragms were rather liable to get deposits of copper upon them, which were troublesome to remove without making holes in the leather. This was probably due to having the diaphragm too close to the cathode, especially in hot weather, when action was brisker. Latterly we constantly obtained highly polished sheets of thin copper by electro- typing in this way, for use in photo-typographic processes, for which it was found very suitable and cheaper than the ordinary sheet copper to be obtained in the market. — Process Photogram,
1HE <PHOTOGRA'PHrC TOIES "RECORD
Of Competitions Open to Photographefs*
NAME
Photographic Thnes Photographic Times
ADDRESS
New York New York
Photographic Times
New York
SUBJECT
Book Illus- tration
Lantern Slides
PRIZES
CLOSING DATE
$175.00 Cash and 5 Medals
I Silver Medal X Bronze Medal
June I, 1900
RESTRICTIONS
None
REMARKS
See January Number
April X. xgoo
See Rules
Study of a Child
iSUverMedal 1 I Bronze Medal
March I 1900
See Rules
Photographic Times Ladies^ Home Joaroal
New York
SUU Life Study
I Silver Medal I Bronze Medal
May 1, 1900
See Rules
Philadelphia, Pa.
Booth at any
Fair or Festival
I at fioaoo X at saoo 9 at 35.00 5 at 10.00
July If 1900
See Journal for March
Address Art Bureau
Ladles^ Home Journal
Philadelphia, Pa.
Window- Gardens
$75.00, $50.00 and $95.00
April I, xgoo
Sec Journal
Address Art Bureau
Indianapolis Press Leslie's Weekly
Patent Record
Mail and Express
IlL Buffalo Express
Indianapolis. Changed Bl- ind, weekly
New York. N. Y.
Baltimore, Md.
New York, N. Y.
$5.00, $3.00 and I
$2.<0
Bi-weekly
Must use Coupon Amateurs only
See Paper
Recent Cur- rent Events
Unique Sub- jects and Re- cent Current Events _
General
$5.oc Cash
Buffalo, N. Y.
The Gunera
The American Boy Western Camera Notes Photo Beacon
I Philadelphia, |
I , p«- L
Detroit, Mich.
$5.00, $3.00 and $a.oo
$5.00
Cash
Cash and Mater- ials
Photo Beacon Cottage and Castle
No Set Sub- jcct
$3.00
Weekly
X5th of each month
Weekly
Annual
Amateurs No Copyright Pictures
$1 paid for each phot<^japh used
Amateurs
See Paper
Amateurs No Copyright Pictures
See Paper
No Pictures Re- turned
Photographs pi lished ana paid liberally
►ub- for
See Rules
Held Monthly
Monthly
Subscribers' only
$1. paid for each photograph used
Minneapolis. Minn.
Interiors
Kodak and Materials
February
XQOO
Subscribers and Ama- teurs only. See Rules
Held Monthly
Camera and Darl;-Room
Chicago, Chicago,
New York
New York
Intensificdi- tion
Snow Pictures
General
Portrait,
Landscape,
Marine
Books
Books
$5.00 Cash
Lenses.
Kebruary 28, iqoo
March 31, iqoo
5th of each month
March 15
See Rules
See Rules.
Amateurs only
Held Monthly
Held Monthly
See Rules
See Paper
February 7, 1900
All publications holding competitions open to photographers are invited to send in full particulars of same for insertion in above Record, as it is desired to make it as complete as possible.
Digitized by
Digitized by
•RAVURC-PMOTOCHROMC CNO CON
THE RECESSIONAL.
BY WM.D MURPHY.
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>UR DOIXARS PER AN^ftf^g^
APRIL, 1900.
wuE COPIES, 35 cEirrs.
THE
Photographic
TinESGl
TAS
•zsr
^An-Illustrated !avonthly-/\agazine devoted-to-the- interests-of* artisticsrscientific- ^j^ Photography
THE-PHOTOGRAPfflC-TinES-PUBLISHING-
JSSSOCIATION*60*AMi*62*EAST*ll?*STANEW*YORK.
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CONTBNTS
Portraits of Mrs. R. and Son— Frontispiece— By R.
Eickemcyer, Jr opposite 145
An Enquiry into the Early History of Photography
Illustrated 145
William Henry Fox Talbot— Illustration 245
One of the Prophets— By F. S. & M. E. Allen— lUus-
tration 148
Sea Fog— By J. Whitall Nicholson— Illustration 151
'* The Pool in the Wood "—By Nellie M. C. Knappcn
— Illustration 153
The Peanut Field— By R. Eickemeyer, Jr.— Illus- tration 154
Floral Photography— By Henry C. Delery 155
Suggestions on Pictorial Photography — By J. A.
Gallagher— Illustrated 156
Cows at Pasture — By E. Nicolai — Illustration 157
In Harvest Times— By Geo. W. Norris— Illustration 157 Photographs of Rare Fishes— By R. W. Shufeldt—
Illustrated 158
The Milwaukee Exhibit 160
Illustration — By Herbert Arthur Hess 160
A Fan— By R. Eickemeyer, Jr.— Illustration 161
Rudolph Eickemeyer, Jr.— By Sadakichi Hartmann
—Illustrated 161
Late Afternoon in Winter— By R. Eickemeyer, Jr.-
Illustration 162
Fleur-de-Lis — By R. Eickemeyer, Jr.— Illustration. 163 A Decorative Study— By R. Eickemeyer, Jr. — Ilius-
tration 164
When Age Comes Stealing On^By R. Eickemeyer,
Jr.— -Illustration 165
•• After the Haul "—By R. Eickemeyer. Jr.— lUus-
tration 166
Photographing Lightning— By Newton W. Emmens
—Illustrated 166
Halcyon Days— By R. Eickemeyer, Jr.— Illustra- tion 167
To Blacken Diaphragms, etc 168
A Few Hints on Home Portraiture— By John
Curtis, Jr.— Illustrated 169
Portrait— By John Curtis. Jr.— Illustration 169
Portrait— By John Curtis, Jr.— illustration 170
Portraits— By Wallace N. Vreeland— Illustration. . . 171
A Remedy for Blisters 171
•• The Snow-Clad Hills"— By B. W. KUburtt— Illus- tration 17a
Winter Days— By W. I. Lincoln Adams— Illustrated 173 •• Poetic Winter "—By B. W. Kilbum— Illustration. . 173 "The Way of Beauty"— By B. W. Kilbum— Illus- tration 174
Our Competitions 174
Winter Twilight— By B. W. Kilbum— Illustration.. 175 The Home Preparation of Orthochromatic Plates.. . 176
•* Marie "—By C. Yamall Abbott— Illustration 177
"Mid Flowery Meads"— By R. Eickemeyer, Jr. —
Illustration 178
Lantern Slide Making for Beginners — By Primrose Hill— Illustrated 179
The Village Church Chorister— By Arus S. Williams
— Illustration 180
Our Monthly Digest •. : . i8a
An Aftemoon's Sport— By Wm. A. McCord— Illus- tration 183
An Autumn Scene— By C. Wolff-^Illustration 184
A Japanese Fancy— By R. Eickemeyer, Jr.— Illus- tration 186
Editorial Notes 188
The Night Before Christmas— By Frank R. Miller—
Illustration 189
Editorial Table ^ 190
Photographic Times Record 19a
NOT A SUGGESTION . . .
...BUT A FACT
that
. . DISCO . .
the gelatine^ non<urling, hard film printing-out paper is also availabk for
QUICK PRINTING
tyy gaslight or by daylight.
Afterwards— DEVELOP like a PLATE, using OUR SPECIAL FORHULA.
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
ARE THUS ABSOLUTELY INDEPENDENT
OF THE WEATHER AND THE TRUST*
^ .JTHE SCOVILL & ADAMS CO. OF NEW YORK,
60 & 62 East Eleventh Street, New York.
Digitized by
^
Vol. XXXII
APRIL, 1900
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE EARLY HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY.*
(continued.)
HE provisional agreement entered into by Ni^pce and Daguerre on December 14th, 1829, is well worth study. The terms with which we are now chiefly concerned are those refer- ring to the respective contri- butions of the two inventors to the perfection of the process. Nicpce-it will be seen from article 3 — was to disclose the na- ture and working details of his process, whilst Daguerre was — as stated in article 5 — to contribute a newly designed camera, his talent, and his energy.
The following is the translation of the agree- ment, a reduced facsimile of which is given with this issue : —
Basis of Provisional Agreement. •'The undersigned M. Joseph Nic^phore Ni^pce, landowner, residing at Chaions-sur-Sa6ne, Department of the Seine and Loire, on the one hand, and M. Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. painter. Member of the Legion of Honour, and Manager of the Diorama, on the other, hereby enter into the following provi.sional agreement for the purpose of forming a partnership : —
** Whereas M. Ni^pce has made certain researches for the purpose of fixing the views of nature, by a new method without the aid of a draughtsman, and various processes constituting this discovery have been the result. The said discovery consists in the spontaneous
+ Copyrighicd. 1900, in the United States by The Photographic Times Publishintr Association.
•Copyrighted in Great Briuin by The Photogram^ Limited.
reproduction of pictures formed in the camera obscura. And whereas M. Daguerre, to whom the discovery has been made known, realisin^a: its great interest and the great extent to which it can be improved, has offered to join M. Niepce for that purpose, and for securing all the benefits which may be derived from this new kind of industry : In view of these facts, the parties hereto have agreed to the following provisional and fundamental conditions of partnership : —
WILLIAM HKNRV POX TALBOT.
Copyriglit, igoo, by The Scovill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y.. Post Office.
Digitized by
146
Early History of Photography
[April
,;^%«^
' I. A partnership shall be formed between MM. Niepce and Daguerre, under the title of Ni^pce- Daguerre, for the purpose of perfecting the said discovery made by M. Niepce and improved by M. Daguerre.
' 2. The partnership shall be for the term of ten years, dating from this fourteenth day of December, and until to the expiration of that period shall be dissolved only by mutual consent. In case of decease of either of the partners, his heir shall succeed to the partnership for the remainder of the unexpired term of ten years. Further, in the event of the death of either of the partners, the said discovery shall only be published under the joint name specified in clause i.
' 3. Upon signature of this agreement, M. Ni6pce
shall disclose to M. Daguerre, under the seal of secrecy, which shall be so kept under penalty of all expenses, damages, and interest, the principle upon which the discovery depends, and shall fur- nish a full and exact written statement of the nature, the working details, and the different methods of applying the processes connected therewith, in order that the experiments for per- fecting and utilizing the discovery may be carried out as completely and quickly as possible. • 4. M. Daguerre, under the same penalties, under- takes to preserve with the greatest secrecy the fundamental principle of the discovery, and the nature, use, and application of the processes which shall be disclosed to him, and will join, as far as possible in the improvements which may
Digitized by
1900]
Early History of ^Photography
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be deemed necessary to the best of his abilities and talents.
•5. M. Niepce gives and cedes his invention to the partnership, as an asset, in consideration of half the profits which may be derived from it, and M. Daguerre contributes a newly designed camera, his talent, and his industry in consideration of the other half of the said profits.
* 6. Upon signature of this agreement. M. Daguerre shall disclose toM. Niepce, under seal of secrecy, which shall be so ke])t under penalty of all ex- penses, damages, and interest, the principle upon which the improvement in his camera depends, and will furnish an exact written statement of the nature of the said improvement.
** 7. MM. Niepce and Daguerre shall contribute in equal shares the capital which may be found re- quisite for the partnership.
•• 8. When the partners think well to apply the said invention to the process of engraving; that is to say, when they have decided what advantages it may possess which will enable an engpraver to make a trial plate» MM. Niepce and Daguerre hereby agree to select no one but M. Lemaitrefor c arr3ring out the same.
**9. Upon execution of the final agreement, the partners shall mutually appoint a manager and a cashier of the firm, which shall be located in Paris. The manager shall conduct the business as decided by the partners, and the cashier shall re-
Digitized by
ONE OF THE PROPHETS
/•'. .<r. and M. E. Allen, Deer/ieldy Mm*. Copyrighted, iSqq^ by Geo. E. Matthews &* Co.
The Illustrated Buffalo Express Contest for Amateur Photographers iSgc^.
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Early History of Photography
149
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ceive and make all payments as ordered by the manager in the interests of the firm.
** 10. The manager and cashier shall be elected for the term of the present agreement, but shall be eligible for re-election. Their services shall be gratuitous, or a portion of the profits may be awarded them, as the partners may think fit, when the final agreement is made.
**ii. The cashier shall render an account to the manager each month, showing the positi(mof the firm, and every six months the partners shall divide the profits, as stated above.
"12. The Cashier's accounts showing the position of the firm, shall be balanced, signed, and attested each half-year by both partners.
** 13. The improvements which may be made in the
discovery and in the camera shall be the property, and for the benefit, of both partners, and when they have attained the object in view, they shall make a final agreement upon the basis of these presents.
14. The net profits of the partners derived from the business shall be shared equally between M. J»Ii6pce, as inventor, and M. Daguerre for his im- provements.
[5. Any dispute which may arise between the partners in regard to this agreement shall be de- cided by arbitrators appointed by each party privately, according to Article 51 of the Com- mercial Code, and other decision shall be bind- ing, without appeal or revocation.
16. If it should be decided to dissolve the partner-
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Early History of Photography
[April
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ship, the liquidation shall be undertaken privately by the cashier, or by both partners together, or by a third person, to be appointed privately, or by some person appointed by a competent court at the instance of the more active partner. **The whole of this agreement has been entered into
provisionally by both parties, who, for the execution of
these presents, elect as domicile their respective resi- dences, as specified above. ** Executed and signed in duplicate at Ch^lons-sur-
Sa6ne, the fourteenth day of December, one thousand,
eight hundred and twenty-nine.
•• Approved by me, though not written by my hand, •* J. N. NifepcE.
** Approved by me, though not written by my hand. '• Daguerre."
The written statement which, in accordance with the third condition of the partnership, Nidpce was to hand to Daguerre, we shall give later. As to what was the principle upon which Daguerre's newly designed camera depended, the which he was, according to condition No. 6,
Digitized by
iqOO]
Early History of Photography
151
y. Wkitall NichoUon.
to disclose to Ni^pce, history does not seem very clear. Probably the use of a more suit- able lens is all that was done. Daguerre would be almost certain to have Chevalier's book on cameras obscuras published in that year,* in which the construction of various kinds of cameras is described and the advantage of a perioscopic over a bi-convex lens referred to.
Ni^pce, so it is stated in Historique de la Dtcouverte de Photographie^ by Isidore Ni^pce, never received any photographic print from Da- guerre, but the latter did show him some yel- lowish powder, which was luminous in the dark, and which was thought to be sulphide of barium.
In 1833, four years after forming the part- nership with Daguerre, Niepce died. In 1837 Daguerre and Isidore Niepce endeavored to start a company to work the process which Daguerre had now brought to perfection. In March, 1838, the subscription list was opened, but the public proved incredulous. Daguerre then applied to Arago, the leading scientific
^Notice tur C usage des chambres obscures et des chambres claires^ by Cbas. Chevalier, 1809.
man of the time, and a member of the French Chamber, communicating to him the process and personally begging him to interest the Government in it. The result was that Daguerre and his partner entered into an agreement with M. Duchatel, the then Minister of Home Affairs, whereby the latter was to ask the Chamber for life pensions of 6,000 and 4,000 francs for Daguerre and Niepce in return for the dis- closure of their process.
Bill, proposing to g^ant: ist to Monsieur Daguerre an annual life pension of 6,000 francs; 2nd to Monsieur Niepce, junior, an annual life pension of 4.000 francs, for the giving up by them of their process of fixing the image in the camera obscura.
Presented by M., the Minister of the Interior. Sitting held. 15th June, 1839. "Gentlemen :
** We feel that we anticipate the wishes of the Cham- ber when we propose to acquire in the name of the Gov- ernment, a discovery as useful as it is unexpected and which, in the interests of science and of art should be made public.
*• You have all heard— and some of you have already had personal proof of the truth of what I am going to say — that, after fifteen years* incessant and costly re- search, M. Daguerre has succeeded in fixing the image
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of the camera obscura, and has thus produced, in four or five minutes, by means of light, designs in which the smallest details of the objects are rendered with mathe- matical accuracy, and which the linear perspective and range of tones, due to aerial perspective, are reproduced with a delicacy hitherto impossible. We need not in- sist on the usefulness of such a discovery. It >vill be at once understood what entirely new facilities it gives to the study of the sciences, whilst one can scarcely calcu- late the services which it can render in the arts. The most accomplished artists and painters will avail them- selves of its perfect reproduction of natural scenes, whilst, on the other hand, it will offer a quick and easy means of forming collections of studies which could only be otherwise procured by long and tedious processes, and even then less perfectly.
** The art of engraving, applied to multiply the im- ages drawn by nature herself, will enter upon a new era of importance and interest.
** Lastly, the traveler, and the archaeologist no less than the naturalist will find M. Daguerre's apparatus indispensable. They will be able to make their records unassisted, and henceforth every author will illustrate his own work : halting for a few moments before the most elaborate monument or extensive panorama, he will obtain a facsimile of it in an instant.
*• Unfortunately for the authors of this discovery they find it impossible to exploit it commercially and so re- coup themselves for their years of fruitless labor. Their invention is of such a character as cannot be protected by patent. As soon as it is known, anyone will be able to use it; the most unskilled will be empowered to draw as well as the trained artist. The process must, therefore, be given to a//, or must remain secret, and the loss to art and science, should such a secret die with the in- ventors, cannot be estimated.
" Under these exceptional circumstances it behooves the government to step in, and to place society in pos- session of a discovery, the general interest of which de- mands that it shall be known, provided that the authors obtain the price, or rather the reward of their invention. Such are the motives which have influenced us in mak- ing with MM. Daguerre and Ni^pce a provisionary arrangement to which the Bill, which we have now the honor of presenting, asks for your sanction.
** Before acquainting you with the terms of thi.s ar- rangement some details must be explained.
*• The possibility of fixing the image of the camera obscura for a short time has been known since the last century; but this discovery was never of any use, since the substance on which the solar rays impressed the image was not permanent, and became completely black when it was exposed to daylight. M. Ni^pce, the father of M. Isidore Niepce, invented a means of producing permanent images, but, although he thus solved this difficult problem, his invention was very incomplete. He obtained only the outlines of objects and required at least twelve hours for the reproduction of the smallest drawing.
** In his researches, M. Daguerre has followed entirely different methods from those adopted by M. Niepce, with what results we see to-day, viz., the extreme rapidity of the process, and the reproduction of aerial perspective and the play of lights and shadows. The method is entirely his own, and is distinguished from
that of his predecessor as much by the process itself as by the results obtained.
*' However, the existence, before the death of Niepce, the father, of an agreement whereby he and Daguerre agreed to share with each other all the advantages accruing from their discoveries (and as this stipulation descends to M. Ni^pce's son) precludes us from dealing exclusively with M. Daguerre even in relation to a pro- cess which he has not merely perfected, but has invented. And we must not forget that the method of M. Ni6pce, al- though still incomplete, may possibly be capable of im- provement and of being usefully applied under certain circumstances, and that, therefore, it is right that, for the history of the science it should be published along with M. Daguerre's.
** These explanations, gentlemen, will make it clear to you why MM. Daguerre and Isidore Niepce appear to-day in the treaty which is appended to the bill.
"A sum of 200,000 francs has been asked us as the price of the process of MM. Daguerre and Niepce, and we must say that the offers of foreign sovereigns justified this claim. Nevertheless, we have arranged that in place of the capital being paid down, it shall be granted in the form of an annuity, viz , a pension of 10,000 francs, half of it reverting to the widows.
The pension will be assigned thus: 6,000 francs to M. Daguerre. 4,000 francs to M. Niepce,
'•Apart from what we have already said, there is ar- other reason for this unequal division. M . Daguerre has consented to make known the methods by which he produces his Diorama, an invention of which he alone knows the secret, and which it would be unfortunate to allow to be lost.
* ' Before signing the agreement, M. Daguerre placed in our hands a sealed packet containing his own and M. Niepce 's processes, and that of the Diorama.
*'Wecan assure this Chamber that the descriptions are genuine, for a member of this assembly, whose name alone is a final authority, has received in confidence from M. Daguerre an account of his process, has him- self experimented with it, and can testify to the ac- curacy of the various details.
** We hope, gentlemen, that you will approve both the motive which has prompted this agreement and the con- ditions under which it has been made. You will concur in a sentiment which has already attracted considerable public favor, and you will not leave the contingency possible that other nations may have the honor of giving to the world of art and science one of the most marvel- lous discoveries on which our country prides herself."
From this it will be seen that for a life pension of jC2^o a year Daguerre was to yield his pro- cess free to all. But, only a few weeks after the passing of this bill, he took out patent rights in England A few sentences of his specification, follow:
*• The patent agent. Miles Berry, says: *This inven- tion relates to photogenic drawing, or the spontaneous reproduction of images, pictures, or representations of nature by the action of light, that is, by the process or methods now well known under the name of ** Daguerreo- type." I believe it to be the invention or discovery of
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THE POOL IN THE WOOD.
Neliie Af. C. Kna^/en.
Messrs. Louis Joseph Jacques Mande Daguerre and Jo- seph Isidore Ni^pce, junior, both of the Kingdom of Frauce. from whom the French Government have pur- chased the invention for the benefit of that country. This invention or discovery was fully communicated to me by a certain foreigner, residing in France, on or about the fifteenth day of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, with instructions imme- diately to petition Her Majesty to grant Her Royal Let-
ters Patent for the exclusive use of the same within these kingdoms *"
This patent was set aside by Sir Thomas Wilde in 1847.
Daguerre lived long enough to see his process universally adopted and not so long as to see it discarded. He died on July 10, 1851. To be Contiuued.
t^«^»^ •^^^* ^^^9,^.
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Floral Photography
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FLORAL PHOTOGRAPHY.
BY HENRY C. DELERY.
*• Bring the rare primrose that forsaken dies, The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine. The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet. The glowing violet.
The musk rose, and the well attir'd wood-bine, With cowslios wan that hang the pensive head. And every flower that sad embroidery wears."
M//fon.
NATURE presented in her plain and simple adornment is one of the most beautiful subjects offered for the study of mankind. To imitate and represent her as she appears, has been the life work and aim of the greatest artists.
In flowers, nature's most beautiful offspring, those heavenly dew-drops, fallen to earth to cheer its desolate wastes with their pleasing and variegated hues, and perfume its atmosphere with their fragrance, the lover of nature, will find her lavish with her subjects, each one the cause for a new pleasure, each effort a happy creation.
To the painter alone is given the power to show them in all the radiance of their colors, and represent them in all their beauty, yet the pho- tographer, though limited in his means, must use his camera as the artist employ his paint and brush, and reproduce them, though in mono- chrome, but still retaining all their graceful forms.
One need have no difficulty in selecting speci- mens, which are abundant in almost any clime; it becomes merely a matter of choice. Yet the limitations of photography require us to be sparing in the selection of colors, and admonish us to use in preference the lighter shades, if we desire to be successful. In this respect, pinks, light blues and yellows, white and variegated colors will reproduce better than the dark reds, blues and greens. Here, also, it will be found to advantage not to combine flowers of very great contrasts of light and dark shades.
Irregular cut flowers of bold outlines, and those shaped so as to form shadows within themselves will give far better effects than the small vine-like variety which have no body. Lilies, Narcissus, Roses and the like are very desirable, much more so than Hyacinths, or flowers of that style.
They should be plucked in the morning if possible, and photographed whilst they retain their freshness, for if once faded, do what we will, we cannot revive and show them in all their pristine beauty.
Upon the proper setting given to the flowers depends in a great measure the prettiness of the picture. Vases are unfortunately too com- monly employed and often made the most prominent feature. This should not be; if used at all, they must be subordinate, made to de- tract as little as possible from the real object of the picture. Generally a light shade, or pure crystal answers best, but above all, elaborate designs, such as on Bohemian ware should be strenuously avoided. Roses, lilies and long stemmed flowers appear to better advantage in slender vases, whilst short bushy ones, require a rather stout or round vessel.
The best advice that can be given regarding the arrangement of the flowers is to make them appear as if they had not been arranged at all. This may prove more difficult than it appears, but we should persevere and use Dame Nature as a model, and strive to imitate her, remember- ing that she knows best how to care for the beauty of her children, than we, who with our despotic hands only tend to wither and rob them of their freshness. A too close grouping tends to make them lose their identity, and it is better not to crowd them nor use too large a number, and specially avoid imitating designs, such as are followed by florists and decorators, which destroy the virgin beauty of the flowers, and render them only a mockery of their former selves.
The background should be very simple, all of an even tint, to suit the color of the subject. Fancy designs are an abomination, and should be shunned, and black sparingly used. There is a great tendency to employ the black back- ground under the pretext that it makes the flowers more prominent; this is true, and often very pretty, but there is also a great danger to make them lose their life and sparkle and liken them to unemotional objects carved in marble. A light pearl gray tint, and another several shades darker are most serviceable.
The lighting must be vigorous and bold, yet at the same time retaining a certain softness and delicacy which is absolutely necessary to give them roundness and a gentle mould. The studio, where light can be graduated to almost any degree of softness and intensity, affords the greatest possibilities; nevertheless, most excellent results can be obtained by the light of an ordinary window.
The photographic image being composed of merely lights and shadows, we can easily per- ceive that the proper lighting of the subject
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becomes a most important factor. A side light with a little illumination from the top is essen- tial, and by holding the flowers at arm's length, turning them one way and the other, permitting the light to gradually fall on them from all directions, we can finally arrive at the most pleasing effects.
It is advisable, especially when reproducing a small bunch of flowers, not to make the image too large on the plate, as in these in- stances, the object being so close to the camera, the field of the lens is necessarily short, and is severely taxed, and unless the lens be a very good one a picture unequally focussed may result Hence as small a diaphragm should be used as circumstances will permit. As most objects of this character are photographed indoors, there need be but little fear of a long exposure, for the danger from vibrations is reduced to a minimum.
Whether taken in the field or in the studio, the camera ought to be placed as much as pos- sible so that the axis of the lens will be on a level with the center of the picture An up- ward or downward position is rather unnatural and distorted
And, now. we come to operations of a purely technical character. The plate should be an orthochromatic — in fact, they are a necessity. It is utterly impossible to well reproduce the bright yellows, greens, and reds in their proper values unless they are employed, and in con- nection with color screens. Ordinary plates may do when the subjects are all white. And here again it would be better to have a backed or non-halation plate, to prevent all undue halo or fogging of the image when white flowers are brilliantly lighted. For development, an agent like pyro, which is productive of soft and mel- low negatives, rich in detail and free from harsh contrasts, is commendable. Still, as every one has his favorite developer, a judi cious use of same cannot fail to give a good negative.
It is sometimes necessary, owing to unfavor- able conditions, when photographing in the field, to resort to certain subterfuges to bring about the desired result; as for example, it may occur that the nature of the surroundings does not admit of a suitable background or one which may be a hindrance to the picture. It then becomes expedient to expose the plate, and when developed make a positive from same, on which the objectionable parts are masked or blocked out, and then a new nega-
tive made. Many instances of this kind may happen, and the intelligent treatment of the subject by the artist will without doubt suggest the proper remedy.
SUGGESTIONS ON PICTORIAL COM- POSITION.
BY J. A. GALLAGHER.
HE Study of art, as exemplified by the masters, will make plain that the scheme, or rather the form of pro- ducing art, is di- vided into certain forms; and it is quite plain, that they thoroughly appreciated that in order to secure a good general
Ceo. C. Meeker, form of COmpOSi-
tion, it must be as simple as possible.
Geometric forms are found to give order and regularity.
Groups of figures, without some appearance ot geometric form, would produce a confused effect, and would tend to hide the " purpose,*' as one subject would be indicated as strongly as another.
The diagonal line, which is the form we will give our attention for the present, is very suita- ble in the composition of landscapes. Cuyp al- most invariably adopted this arrangement, and in his pictures the point of dark being placed near, and opposed to the higher point of illum- ation, eives extra value to the higher lights.
"Cows at Pasture," will illustrate the dia- gonal form applied in photography. You will also note, that the position of the horizon is not equidistant from top and bottom; this may be taken as a rule, that the plane between the earth and sky be not equally divided; the exact position, whether above or below the
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center, must be determined by the subject. Many artists, in compositions constructed on the diagonal, carry the lines of the clouds in a con- trary direction.
Burton holds " that the using of clouds to antagonize, may produce a better equipoise; but sacrifice many advantages."
This is quite true, for in many of the pictures by Cuyp, the clouds are not used as antagoniz- ing lines, but follow the general line of the landscape, producing a rich and soft effect.
This effect will be noticed in " In Harvest Times."
Repetition is a valuable quality, and helps to give one part of the picture rela- tion to the other parts. It should not, however, be an exact imita tion, but rather a suggestion.
In an earlier paper we men- tioned as to *' unity " being an essential; this is a fact beyond dispute; because in all good com- positions we find a perfect unity, embracing outlines, incidents, at- tractiveness, etc., etc.; without these, no sense of satisfaction will be conveyed. If there are strong lines that lead the eye to different parts of the picture, a figure stand- ing out that should be suppressed, patches of light and dark, there will be a lack of ** unity." The province of unity is to bring the various qualities to a focus; it is opposed to things scattered
whether they be lines, light, or ideas; its purpose is to take things, dissim ilar though they be in their great variety, and mould them into a harmonious whole.
Where there is unity, the cen- tral thought stands out clearly the various parts leading the eye gently to it.
In landscape work it is often to advantage to introduce figures; they can be used for many pur- poses; to blot out that which is undesirable, break up a mass, or tell some particular story, which is a picture's chief purpose.
The art, in the composition where two or more figures are being used, is in so arranging that they should have relation to each other, as well as to the other elements of the picture. A bond of union must exist between them, and they must show a vital interest in that which is represented.
In using two figures, very little pictorial quality will be obtained by their being of the same height, or standing in a like position; variety must be obtained by varying the posi- tion of the body, and by the arrangement of the hands and feet.
( To be Continued.)
E. Nico/ai,
IN HAUVKST TIM
(»><?. IV. Norn's.
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Photographs of Rare Fishes
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PHOTOGRAPHS OF RARE FISHES.
BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, C. M. Z. D.
M
Y methods of photographing living fish in aquaria have been so fully described in former issues of The Photographic Times, that a repe- tition of them becomes unneces- sary in this article. During the past year there has been no opportunity to improve to any great extent upon what was formerly accomplished by me in this field, and in some directions. I had not hoped for any better results than had already been realized. On the 6th of November, 1899, however, I accepted the invitation of Dr. Hugh M. Smith, biologist of the U. S. Fish Commission at Washington, D. C, to perform a piece of fish -photography that was somewhat different from anything formerly undertaken. During the autumn of the year just mentioned, the collectors for the Commission had captured a number of specimens each, at Wood's Holl, Massachusetts, of the Snowy Grouper (Epi- nephelus nivcatus) (Fig. i), and of the Big-eye {^Pseudopriacanthns alius) (Fig. 2). These ar- rived in good health and condition at the Fish
Commission Building at Washington, where some half a dozen of each were all consigned to the same aquaria on the east side of the " Marine Grotto."
Neither of these species of fish are very com- mon in any locality; the Grouper, so far as at present known, ranging only from the West In- dies to Brazil, and it is taken when young, but occasionally on the New England coasts, having arrived there by way of the Gulf Stream. The Big-eye is even a rarer fish than the Grouper, and has nearly the same habitat, though it is sometimes found as far north as Charleston and gulf coast of Florida to Pensacola. It has never been known to exceed a foot in length, while the Snowy Grouper is, by several inches, still smaller. When adult, the Big-eyes keep in pretty deep water, though the young haunt the shallow places near shore. I have taken them with my hands in the little rocky pools on the west side of Havana harbor, where the surf has tossed them in As a rule, both of these species keep near the bottom, where they skulk among the sea-plants, and small rocks and corals. In captivity the groupers are good feeders, but it is
Dr, R. W. Sku/gldt.
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Dr. R. W. Sku/eldt.
very difficult to get the Big-eyes to eat anything. They differ very markedly both in the matter of form and coloration, nor are they very closely related species. Far more brilliant than the Grouper, the little Big-eyes are of a uniform scarlet color, with their large ventral fins a splendid jetty black. Some black also is found in the other fins and tail, but the pectorals are plain, and more or less transparent. Their glassy eyes emit a peculiar electric fire when anything excites them, that is very remarkable, and at once attracts the attention of the ob- server. Now the Grouper is a very dark -colored species, its entire body being of a blackish brown, with the fins large, clear, and slightly tinted with yellow. But what gives this species its most striking appearance are the rows of the small, irregular pearly white spots on its body and dorsal fin.
These spots are some little distance apart, be- ing arranged nearly in longitudinal rows when followed lengthwise, but in vertical ones when traced up and down. (See Fig. i.)
When excited from any cause both of these species of fish are subject to a peculiar fit-like attack. For example, when the Big-eye was transferred from one aquarium to another, in
order that I might take his picture in the proper light, he had no sooner been placed in the sec- ond receptacle than he swam violently about in a rushing and jerky manner, and finally stiffened out his gill-covers and fins in the most extra- ordinary'^ way, while he floated like a dead fish on the bottom. We were then obliged to place him back in his original tank, where it was fully half an hour before he again resumed his nor- mal state and swam about like a sensible fish. On the second trial there was no recurrence of this nervous, hysterical attack, brought on either by emotional causes, fright, or an attempt to feign death, and I had the good fortune to secure a number of excellent negatives of him. This species sometimes die in these fits, while the Groupers, which similarly have them, nearly always recover. They, however, change color most remarkably, becoming of a uniform dirty - whitish, which causes their white spots to be even still more conspicuously immaculate and pearly. After the acute stage of the spasm, this fish lies on the bottom either on its side or belly-upwards, as dead a looking fish as anyone would care to see. It does not even seem to breathe, and the closest observer fails to see any movement in either its fins or its gill -covers. Sometimes they will remain in this condition
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for fully half an hour, when they gradually come to again, and resume their usual habits, apparently as well as ever. Whether or not these attacks occur in nature I am not at present prepared to say, but it is just probable that they do, and may serve the fish some useful purpose.
In my own experience these are the only two species of fishes that exhibit these pe- culiar attacks, though there may be others that do so. They do not improve the chances of the naturalist to secure photographs of the subjects, and of that fact one may be well assured. It re- mains to be noticed that the eyes of the Groupers have not that peculiar electric light in them, when the fish is an- noyed or excited, as has been described above for the Big- eyes; while on the other hand, they, when the fish is teased or becomes sullen, its eyes appear to be almost opaque and clouded, as may be seen in the illustration of the Grouper accompanying this article.
THE MILWAUKEE EXHIBIT.
IT would seem especially fitting that the Photo- graphers' Association of America, the official spokesman of the pro- fession, should uphold the dignity of photography. That portrait photography is rap- idly advancing is well known. Its artistic capabilities have never been so well understood and acknowledged as they are at the present time. It has been a matter of regret to many that the average of the work exhibited yearly at our conventions is not of as high a standard as we should expect to see, when we consider the high average skill of the American photographer. It may or it may not be due to the policy of
scattering medals broadcast ; of permitting one standard of excellence in one locality and an- other standard in another locality. If a na- tional association means anything, it means a common meeting-ground, where all must compete on an even foot- ing ; a manifest impossibility when geographically divided. The most important issue, however, is, shall the Asso- ciation stand for all that is best and most elevating. It can have no lasting influ- ence otherwise. Its yearly exhibitions should be, and must be, a representation of the progress of the year. It should be able to say to its members, "Here are the ideals of photography. You must come to this fountain head if you want the true knowledge." To turn from generalities to something specific, let me say that in providing for a hanging com- mittee to pass upon exhibits, the Executive Board have added mightily to the dignity and prestige of the Na- tional Association. Who can gainsay the added interest of such an exhibit to the visitor and the greater opportunities it offers for study. It is un- fortunate that much of the talk and discussion in rela- tion to the ** new" and ** old- schools," and the sneering allusions to ** freak photog- raphy," have made it ap- pear that many of our best workers are opposed to the artistic advancement of por- traiture. It is the fool friends (as usual) of the new move- ment who have made all the disturbance.
It is the earnest desire of the Executive Board to have the National Asso- ciation the exponent of all that is best in pho- tography. We appeal to all who are in sympa- thy with us for your exhibits and your presence
Geo. B. Sperrv, 1st Vice-President P, A, of A.
Herbert A . Hest.
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RUDOLPH mCKEMEYER, JR.
BY SADAKICHI HARTMANN.
I N speaking of Ru- d o 1 p h Eicke- meyer, I do not introduce a new subject to the photographic public; he is well known as a pro- fessional as well,
RAMCN NOOM IM MR. tlCKCMKVtR-S HOME. OS aU amatCUr, SO
I am neither tempted, on the one hand, to treat him as a whale among minnows, nor, on the other hand, induced by a certain timidity to underestimate the artist's talent.
The business of assigning a place to a living artist, however fascinating as a pastime, is a dangerous affair for the critic. In the case of an artistic photographer, it would be mere fool- hardiness to attempt it, as even the vocation he follows has not yet been recognized as an art. And yet it seems to me that without indiscre- tion one may be sure of some things in regard to him. There are some artistic photographers whose art is less strikingly the outcome of what has gone before; others, again, have perhaps made a more gracious use of the art of the past. On the other hand, there are very few who have worked on old methods and preserved more of the truly pictorial element in their prints. And
moreover, there are not very many whose work, if much of it be seen at the same time, is more interesting. It appears to me that noth- ing about Eickemeyer's work is more welcome and surprising than the variety and freshness of his choice of subjects.
The examples which illustrate this article give some hint of his variety. His well com- posed genre pictures like ** The Dancing Les- "^son," his picturesque winter landscapes, his ' charming foreground studies, his draped fig- ures, like his straight forward portraiture (viz., the " Ranchman " and " Halcyon Days)*', show widely different aspects of Eickemeyer's talent. He has entered every branch of pictorial pho- tography with more or less success, and that is more than can be said of most of his colleagues who limit themselves largely to studio pictures. This versatility is the keynote of Eickemeyer's work ; he is in that respect like Craig Annan, which alone, with the immense amount of his output, entitles him to a high position among our artistic photographers.
The technical processes by which his pictures are produced are straightforward enough, and differ only in details from the usual methods of the purists. There is in his technique a directness and simplicity which are in a sense reflections from his personality, and which give
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to his execution a significance and exact meaning that are not to be ignored . These qualities, which were evident years ago in his earliest works, have never deserted him — not even in his latest triumph, the simple render- ing of a block-house, behind which the sun has just set, radiating the sky with a last dazzling glow. It is the most pictorial photograph I have ever seen.
There are but few technicalities which Eicke- meyer does not master, but he has limited his technique to purely scientific devices, and it is this simplicity which makes the adequate presentation and successful realization of his thoughtful fancies possible, and that his pic- tures afford to the profession at large. Without the power to give shape to one's own convictions and to present them to the passerby in their most persuasive guise, the efforts of the most gifted person would remain in- effectual. The mastery of technical difficulties is an indispensable aid to fluent art-expression.
Each of his prints (of course I do not refer to his commercial work) con- vinces by an absolute sincerity of thought and expression. The only seri- ous fault (although one that he cannot help) I find in all his work, is the lack of temperament. One can- not look at forty or fifty of his prints wse without feeling, despite their di- versity of subject, a sort of monotony. He incessantly strives for the expression of poetical sentiment, as in his "The Day is Done," "A Faun," 'After the Haul," and yet, with a very few exceptions, he always falls short of creating some- thing positively beautiful. His conception is always greater than his actual realization. Eickemeyer is constantly handicapped by his lack of temperament, but he employs the little he has to the best advantage.
and at times even with amazing elasticity.
He is a man who has made earnest investi- gations into the theories of art. He inquired the reasons why the great painters did certain things before he had learned to do these things himself, and he had so much respect for custom that he preferred to train his intelligence even more highly than in the mechanical rudiments demanded by photography, declining to depend merely upon manual dexterity to get him through the difficult phases in the path of art.
His principle is still to-day pre-eminently an intellectual one, making demands upon his sense of observation, analysis, and upon his power to recreate on lines individual to him. It is one which guided him first in the collection of mental material and afterwards in the assim- ilation of the items of knowledge so gathered.
FLCUR-OC-LIS.
H. Eickemeyer^ Jr.
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^dolph Eickemeyer, Jf*
[ApRir.
A OECORATIVC tTUDY.
If. EicketM<yer^Jr.
His genre-pictures, although exceedingly care- fully composed (viz., how in his Dancing Lesson, the toys around the boy are placed, how the folds of the woman's dress are arranged, how the music sheet is turned down, and how the monotony of the mantlepieceand wall is broken by the vase), never pleased me. I am not over- fond of pictorial story-telling, at least not of this kind. There must be a deeper meaning to it than a mere superficial incident of life can afford. The " Vesper Bell " is by far his best effort in this direction.
His studies of the vSouthern negroes are in- teresting from an ethnological viewpoint, but
have but little pictorial value, with the excep- tion of his " Peanut field,'* which possesses the qualities of a good picture of the realistic school. He told me one afternoon, in his logwood study in Yonkers, that he made them with the inten- tion to do something similar for the Southern negro as Millet did for the French peasant. That was very ambitious, but he did not ac- complish his ambition. They fall short in every respect of such a high aim. He under- took too much; his intellect continually runs away with him ; his artistic abilities cannot keep pace with it.
Also his costume studies, in my estimation,
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^dolph Eickemeyer, Jr.
165
do not reach very high. There is too much pose and premeditation in them. His portraits, on the contrary, that is, those in whom he is really interested, belong to the very best that are made. There is something so simple, direct, and yet virile about them, which is delightful. I would almost take it upon myself to proclaim him as the best portrait photographer I am acquainted with. I believe him capable of making a satisfactory likeness which at the same time would have decided pictorial qualities. It is no small thing to do either of these, but to do both is indeed a considerable thing.
His landscapes, with or without figure work, are at times full of sug- gestion, and appeal strongly to one's emotions and imaginations.
I am very fond of his winter studies, when everything sleeps beneath the glimmering mantle of snow, and only the light penetrates deeper than ever into the woods with their interlacing branches and many- textured barks.
But it is, I venture to think, in his foreground studies that Eickemeyer gives the most convincing and most interesting proofs of his talent. There he shows himself a true lover of nature Three out of four of his foreground studies would pass the scrutiny of the most exacting critic. They point out how little material is really required to make a successful picture. Two or three fern fronds, a stretch of bramble and a cluster of flowers are amply suf- ficient. The pictorial value of a fore- ground study depends nearly entirely on selection of the right spot, and this gift Eickemeyer possesses to a rare degree, and his love of nature makes him at times uncon- sciously, despite the wise lore he has stored in his mind, a poet, as, for instance, in those magnificent " Fleur de Lys " In my opinion it is one of the best photographs ever pro- duced in America, and only second to Stieg- litz's * Winter on Fifth Avenue." Eickemeyer should stick to these foreground sketches, make a specialty of it, or devote at least most of his time to them, for he owns the key to this fairy- land where Oberon and Titania hold their moon- light revels. A few branches of foliage through whose tracery the sunlight filters, a handful of
WHEN AOC COMCS STEALINO ON.
R. Eickemeyer, Jr.
nodding grass whispering to the wind, a group of nettles, spreading burdocks or tangled bracken on' the roadside, or a field of flowers in which we like to pause and rest, these are the subjects which he has perfectly at his command. In these he is unexcelled.
What will be the future developments of Eicke- meyer's art it is impossible now to say. He has passed from one step to another, and has, in apparent obedience to the aesthetic instincts which control him, varied his performance to suit each phase. There are worlds full of variety which he may yet conquer. He has more than most artistic photographers, the chance of se- curing consideration and acceptance for any new
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Photographing Lightning
[April
departures that he may be moved to make, for he has already gained for himself a place which he shares with no one else. He has the reputa- tion of being an innovator of judicious and well-balanced views ; he is, with justice, given by the popular v(;ice a position amongst the most capable of his profession, and well estab- lished in regard to medal and honorary men- tions upon the ladder of fame.
He has enough of the true artist in him to desire to do justice to himself, and in leisure hours he may be trusted to waste nothing of his energies on trivialties and to make no mis- takes that are not sincere.
Indeed, we may look to Eickemeyer as one of the most representative types of the artistic photographer, one who, having had a past, has still left a future.
APTCR THE HAUL.'
R. Eickemeyer, Jr.
PHOTCXJRAPHING UGHTNING.
BY NEWTON W. EMMENS.
THE subject of lightning flashes is of so much scientific interest and im- portance that photographers, espec- ially amateurs, who usually have more spare time, should make a practice of obtaining as many photographs of them as possible, placing the same at the disposal of the scientific world, in order that they may be studied, and thus add to our store of knowledge of this fascinating subject.
The actual photographing of the lightning flash is a comparatively easy matter. All that is necessary being to watch during a thunder storm and notice in what part of the sky a majority of flashes occur, and then to set up the camera in some position where it will be protected from the rain but at the same time will command as good a view of the heavens as possible ; these conditions being, for example, attainable by selecting an upstairs window in a city or a porch in the country. The camera should then be focused on some distant object, such as a street lamp or lighted window ; or, if the camera have a focussing scale, the pointer
should be set to loo feet and the lens stopped down to F/i I or F/16, according to the speed of the plate used. A plate-holder is next inserted, the slide w^ithdrawn, the shutter opened or the cap removed from the lens and the plate is allow to remained exposed till a good flash occurs in that part of the sky embraced within the field of the lens. The slide is then replaced in the holder and the exposed plate removed ; after which a fresh holder and plate are in- serted and another flash waited for, and so on.
Two of the illustrations accompanying this note were taken on June 20th, 1899, between the hours of 8 and 9 p.m., from the front porch of my home at 20 Central avenue, New Brighton, Staten Island.
The two flashes seen in the illustration, Figure i, were secured within hv^ minutes of exposing the plate. The flash on the right of the picture is of great interest, owing to the peculiar manner in which the flash threw oflF tributary flashes and owing also to the great width of the main flash, the length of which was roughly five-eighths of a mile.
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Co^rigkt^ iSgSy by R, Eickemgyer.Jr.
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Photographing Lightning
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In the illustration, Figure 2, it will be noticed that the path of the lightning was most erratic, the flash having curled and twisted in a very singular manner. In this picture the houses are very dis- tinct owing to the fact that the plate was exposed for twenty-five minutes before any flash took place within the field of the lens. During that time a considerable number of flashes occurred in dif- ferent parts of the heavens, out- side the lens-field ; and it was the light from these flashes that sup- plied the necessary amount of illumination to impress the plate. On developing I found the sky so dense as to entirely bury the light- ning flash; but by local reduction I was enabled to make the negative print fairly well.
Both of these exposures were made on a 4x5 Cramer Isochromatic Instantaneous plate (not backed) with a Rochester Sym- metrical Lens of a 6i inches equivalent focus (embracing an angle of 44^), using stop F/16 ; and the developer was Ortol- soda.
The illustration Figure 3 was taken at 8.10 p. M , on July 12th, 1899, from a back room of my home (the window being open) over- looking New York harbor, with Long Island in the distance. Here may be observed the advantage of using a backed plate, as there is practically no halation in comparison with that shown in the first illustration.
The same size and kind of plate (backed), lens, stop and developer were used as on June 20th, and the exposure lasted fifteen minutes.
I estimate the main flash to have been at a distance of three miles from where my camera was set ; which, having regard to the angle subtended, gives a length of li miles for the discharge itself ; inasmuch, however, as the entire length did not come within the lens-field it is safe to assume it as having been at least lA miles.
This flash is a fine example of the manner in which lightning throws off ramifications which do not appear to reach the earth.
(Photographs of lightning flashes and data
concerning these phenomena are of much
scientific value, and we shall be
glad to receive further pictures and
notes from readers. — The Editor.)
TO BLACKEN DIAPHRAGMS, LENS TUBE, ETC
Through continued use, the dia- phragms of the lens become bright, and as this usually leads to numer- ous troubles, it is, perhaps, as well to know a method by which they can be blackened.
Make a solution of nitrate of mercury, brush it over the brass, and allow it to dr}\ When it is thoroughly dry, apply a solution of potassium sulphide. A splendid dead black will result.
Newton W. Emnttms,
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Home Portraiture
169
A FEW HINTS ON HOME PORTRAITURE^
BY JOHN CURTIS, JR.
Y SOME unwritten law, every amateur photogfrapher begins his career in the art by photographing ev- ery member of his family, all his friends, and the cat and the dog. Babies are his delight, particularly if he can, at the risk of pneumonia, strip the helpless mites of their clothing. These latter photographs are the most carefully preserved, possibly to be used many years hence to pay off a personal grudge not yet bom. The dog and cat are even more trouble- some than the baby, and a confused blur is the usual result.
The amateur knows that he must have light, and thinks that he cannot have too much of it. Therefore he takes his subject into the yard, and with a fence for a background usually and the light striking him fairly in the face, he makes his exposure. If the developed negative shows every line and wrinkle, even the texture of the cloth of which his victim's clothing is made, the operator is happy and at once announces his superiority over the professional. What matters it that the face looks like a death's head, with uneven blotches on a flat white sur- face, representing eyes, nose, and mouth ^ The clothes are beautiful ; hence it is a good portrait. Sometimes he realizes that his light is bad, and that he should have one side of the face darker than the other. This light is obtained by posing his subject by the side of a window through which the sun is streaming. Result, half the face the color of chalk ; the other halt, divided from the first by a line exactly through the center, is black, ** without form, and void." The writer has been all through it himself, and speaks from experience. What he mostly objects to, though, is the fact that upon show- ing his work people said : " Wonderful ! That is better than a professional could do," etc., thereby making it necessary for him to buy a new hat of larger size and to look with scorn upon the poor, deluded professional who knew so little.
But little by little it comes to the would-be portrait artist that there is a screw loose some- where, and that an improvement might be pos- sible. . Having reached this conclusion, he is about ready to throw up the w^hole thing and stick to landscapes, because he lacks a sky-light and other facilities. Now, a sky-light and the accessories of a first-class gallery are nice things to have, but beyond the means of the vast army of amateurs. Without them, it is true that the amateur is largely limited in his opportunities; but, nevertheless, good lighting is easy to pro- cure, even in an ordinary room. For instance, the accompanying portraits were made in such a room, with no other light than that furnished by a north window. We will admit that they are far inferior to gallery work, but they pos- sess a softness and roundness that is very satis- factory. There is big room for improvement, however, but they are sufficient to show the possibilities that may be accomplished by the serious student of photography. The writer is but an amateur who, while he has exposed hun- dreds of plates, can almost count his good neg- atives on his fingers.
A north light is preferable, although an east light in the afternoon or a west light in the morning does very well. What you need is
HOME M>flTflAITUIIK.
John Curt is ^/r.
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Home Portraiture
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diffusion, in order to prevent strong contrasts. The room in which these portraits were made is shown by the accompanying diagram. A is the background — an ordinary, cheap affair — B is the sitter, and C the camera. The shade of window H was up all the way, while that at D was down, entirely shutting off the light from that source. The shades at E and G were also drawn, while that at F was open. By this ar- rangement the light was not thrown entirely on one side. A small sheet thrown over the back of a chair (I) also assisted.
A camera of long bellows, with an atiastigmat lens, was used, and it was noticed that by get- ting closer to the subject and extending the bellows more roundness was obtained, although care should be taken not to get too large a portrait on the plate, as the lens will cause dis- tortion when used to give a larger portrait than it is meant to. The lens was not stopped down, and exposure was made in about five seconds.
Despite the frequent tirades against retouch- ing, in our humble opinion a certain amount of it is necessary. An unretouched negative usu- ally shows up every pore in the skin, as well as many unnoticed blemishes. Of course, retouch- ing can be carried to extremes, as can any- thing else, but it is not going to extremes to have these faults corrected by the judicious use of the pencil. Being of this opinion, the services of one of our best professional pho- tographers was solicited, and the negatives put into satisfactory shape. It is a serious business to photograph a young lady who prides herself on her clear complexion, and present her with a lot of prints which make her look as though she had the smallpox, and the writer hereof is not going to take any chances of
^^^^ social ostracism. It
may not be art. but it's policy.
A thought before closing. Don't make your faces too white. Your skin is not the same color as your col- lar, and a negative so treated as to give a good . flesh tint, or, more correctly speak- ing, color value, is far superior, as well as truer to life, than one
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A
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%
NOME PORTRAITURC.
John Curtis^ Jr.
of Strong contrasts.
THE two pictures on the opposite page are further examples of home por- traiture by Mr. W. N. Vreeland. While they do not pretend to be artistic efforts they are, the author states, truly characteristic; and as examples of what the beginner can do at home, they are ex- cellent. These were taken in an ordinary room, near a side window on the sunny side of house, with the light diffused by a sheet covering the window and hanging down on the ** off-side " for a reflector. An ordinary window-shade was used for a background The exposure, with lens full open, was one second on an isochroma- tic instantaneous plate.
In early numbers, we shall publish articles on
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Home Portraiture
171
Wallace N, Vr eel and,
" Home Portraiture *' by Edgar Felloes, who has been so successful in winnings honors in recent competitions, and by E. Lee Ferg'uson whose work has been exhibited at the various Salons in this country and England. These two pho- tographers work for pictorial effect and not for the professional effect notice- able in the pictures given herewith. The beginner is prone to think that in making portraits, the ideal to be attained is the stiff conventional pose, affected by the average professional, with lights well modulated and every blemish re- moved by retouching, leaving an effect that looks as if it had been produced by a hot fiat iron.
We trust that the articles by Mr. Fel- loes and Mr. Ferguson will draw the beginner's attention to the wonderfully pictorial portraits that can be made with few or no effects and with the unman- ageable light obtainable at home. — (The Editor). —
A REMEDY FOR BLISTERS ON BROMIDE PRINTS.
Occasionally workers are troubled by blisters, when working bromide paper,argo, or any other gaslight papers, which are annoying and spoil otherwise good prints. These blisters are chiefly caused by insufficient washing between the temperatures of the various baths and the washing water. There are other causes besides these but no matter the cause, the remedy should always be the same. Perhaps the best and most simple way of removing the blisters is to lay the print on a sheet of finely ground glass (previously well cleaned with French talc) face downward. By means of a squeegee effect a thorough adhesion. Then allow the print to dry, when it will peel off. The beautiful matt surface which this treatment will produce completely hides the broken blisters, and many a good print is saved that would otherwise be consigned to the waste basket.— ^^w^/r;/r Photographer.
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Winter Vays
^72,
WINTER DAYS.
LINCOLN ADAMS, WITH ILLUSTRA I IONS BY B. W. KILBURN.
Spring.
IFTER the inevit- able "January thaw" we usually have our coldest weather and the deepest snows, in New Hampshire. The day may have been a genial, sunny one, suggestive of the near approach of The water has monotonously dripped, dripped, all day, from the melting snow on barn roofs and buildings ; and in the middle of the road the snow is soft and wet, letting the sleigh runners in deep, as the horses splash along the country highway.
But during the night the wind changes, the mercury falls abruptly many points, and a com- plete transformation takes place. We awaken in the morning to find ourselves in a new world, glistening and glittering in transcendent purity. The trees are bowed with the weight of their celestial fruitage. Bushes and shrubs are a mass of dazzling brilliancy, flashing back pris- matic radiance from thousands of iridescent ice jewels. Long and ponderous icicles hang from the barn eaves, where yesterday the snow-water incessantly dropped. And the snow underfoot crunches and creaks, and is crusty and icy in the roadway and paths. The broad white stretches of hillside and meadow sparkle and glisten in the morning sun. The air is so crisp and clear, and " hol- low " — as the farmer call it, — that well- known distances seem not half so great as they really are. The hoary head of old La- fayette, for instance, which is at least fifteen miles away from our standpoint in the pic- ture appears to be not over five ; while Mount Washington itself, which is over twenty- five miles,distant from our hill, in an air-line, seems to be about as near as Lafayette. This is certainly a good time to photograph dis- tant scenes, and the camera is consequently in demand to-day.
After making the distant views, we turn to the woods, where the most wonderful subjects await us. Here, as James Russell
Lowell has so beautifully described in his vision of Sir Launfal, we behold, in awe :
' * Down through a frost-leaved forest-crypt, Long, sparkling aisles of steel-stemmed trees Bending to counterfeit a breeze : Sometimes the roof no fretwork knew, But silvery mosses that downward grew ; Sometimes it was carved in sharp relief With quaint arabesques of ice-fern leaf ; Sometimes it was simply smooth and clear For the gladness of Heaven to shine through, and here He had caught the noddinjg: bulrush-tops And hung them thickly with diamond drops, That crystalled the beams of moon and sun ; And made a star of every one : No mortal builder's most rare device Could match this winter-palace of ice ; 'Twas as if every image that mirrored lay In his depths serene through the summer day Each fleeting shadow of earth and sky, Lest the happy model should be lost. Had been mimicked in fairy masonr>' By the elfin builders of the frost.'*
We come to the close of another winter day tired with our long tramp through the silent woods and over the snow-clad hills, and hungr}% ah, so hungry ! A snapping wood fire is merrily blazing in the open fire- place, lighting up the
POKTIC WINTCR.'
B, W. Kilburn.
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Winter "Days
[April
cozy farmhouse sitting-room with a rosy glow, and throwing fitful shadows on the quaintly papered walls and low ceiling.
"Shut in from all the world without We sat the clean-winged hearth abcut, Content to let the north wind roar In baffled rage at pane and door, While the red logs before us beat The frost line back with tropic heat ; « « * « *
What matter how the night behaved ? What matter how the north wind raved ? Blow high, blow low, not all its snow Could quench our hearth-fire's ruddy glow."
With the setting of the sun another change has been taking place, the " north wind " has indeed begun to " rave " as the lines of Whittier suggest, and snow is falling again, driving against the window panes with ever increasing force. The snow continues all night, and most of the following day, until by the next evening it lies deep around the little farm house, snugly shutting it in, and completely obliterating the road in front. It has filled up all the paths around the buildings and lies deepest of all in the
TMC WAY Of •CAOTY."
lealless woods. To-day it is as light and dry as the finest meal or sand. It thickly covers everything. To quote again from "The Snow- bound " of Whittier, —
'* We looked upon a world unknown. On nothing we could call our own, Around the glistening wonder bent The blue walls of the firmament, No cloud above, no earth below, A universe of sky and snow ! The old familiar sights of ours Took marvelous shapes; strange domes and towers Rose up when sty or corn -crib stood; Or garden wall, or belt of wood; A smooth white mound the brush-pile showed, A fenceless drift what once was road.'*
No time now for the camera; paths are to be made and the road broken through. A pro- fusion of snow like this is what the provident farmer has been eagerly waiting for to "log in '* his wood from the forest, where it has been felled and piled earlier in the season. The snow fills up all the inequalities of the rude wood- roads so that what would otherwise be an al- most impossible task, becomes now compara- tively easy. The patient oxen wallow along in the fleecy whiteness readily hauling the huge logs which slip along on the snow behind; the accompanying men are on snowshoes.
So, with seasonable recreations and labor the short winter days are happily filled. The quiet, restful evenings are no less enjoyed, and when at an early hour, we betake ourselves to bed, sleep soon steals on.
'* . . . as sleep will do, When hearts are light and life is new."
OUR competitions- Competition No. II., Study of a
Child closed March ist. There were a satisfactory number of entries, and the decisions thereon will be pub- lished in our May number.
Competitors should remember that no letter can be enclosed in a pack- age marked " prints " or photo- graphs. The letters should be sent in a separate envelope We have had to pay excess postage on many pack ages through careless disregard of this rule.
The •* Lantern-Slide " competition closes April ist. Be careful in pack- ing your slides, to avoid breakage.
B /r. KUburn.
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THE HOME PREPARATION OF ORTHO- CHROMATIC PLATES.
IN spite of the fact that the orthochromatiz- ing of plates is not attended with any diffi- culties, I constantly read of failures, which seem to have the effect of scaring pho- tographers away from the use of this process. Blotches and stripes, produced by unequal drying, and other annoying appear- ances can be avoided, using proper means to that end, and in this article I purpose giving a few practical ideas for the color-sensitizing of ordinary dry plates and the method of pro- cedure.
The room in which the work is to be done, must be as free from dust as possible, and airy. All light but that coming through a ruby medium must be rigidly excluded, as the con- tinued action of other light — however, slight — on a plate set out to dr>% will produce fog. Even the light from the ruby dark-room lamp must be kept so low that the objects in its immediate vicinity can only just be discerned. During the color-sensitizing process the trays containing the solutions and plates must be covered with cardboards or otherwise protected. As said above, the work-room must be of a sufficiently large size, as in small close quarters, the drying of the plates will proceed but slowly. If a small room is unavoidable, it must be well ventilated so as to insure a good current of air. The dry- ing rack must be set as far from the lamp as possible.
The light must be reduced to a minimum when making plates sensitive to red, and the various manipulations must proceed quickly as soon as the plates are in the baths, to avoid any unnecessary light acting on them. Sensitizing for red requires ver}' considerable practice.
Before proceeding to describe the method ot sensitizing, the choice of the coloring bath must be carefully considered as the various coloring matters which serve to make a plate sensitive to one and the same spectral zone, have differ-
ing effects, and it may happen that by the un- suitable choice of the sensitizer the exposure time is doubled. Erythrosin acts the most fav- orably of the various substances which can be used. Eosin is also suitable for portrait and landscape photography or, in place of ordinary Eosin, Monnefs (of Lyons) aethyleosin. These latter two are specially suitable in the reproduc- tion of pictures showing much yellow or green- yellow color, also in landscape exposures with the use of a medium yellow-screen.
If the sensitizing action shall extend to the orange zone, then we find in "Rose-Bengal" a good sensitizer.
It were superfluous to mention more of the many coloring matters which have a similar ac- tion on the same spectral zone.
Let us, therefore, proceed to the sensitizing process.
First prepare a stock solution of
Water 500 c. m.
Erythrosin i gram.
This solution will keep indefinitely. Next take two absolutely clean developing trays, one containing a preliminary bath of
Water 100 c. m.
Ammonia 2 c. m.
The object of this preliminary bath is to sof teu the gelatine film of the dry plate, which is of advantage in the subsequent process.
In the second tray we prepare a solution of
Water 100 cm.
Ammonia 2 c. m.
Stock Erythrosin Solution 6 c. m.
This bath must be filtered before use, and carefully, and I would again impress the neces- sity of absolute cleanliness in all the manipula- tions.
A plate, well dusted, is brought into the pre- liminary bath and allowed to remain in the same for two minutes the tray being kept in continu- ous movement.
After carefully removing the plate and drain-
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Orthochfomatic Plates
177
C Yarna/i Abbott.
ing the same, it is brought into the coloring bath. Two minutes, with continuous rocking of the tray, is here sufficient, and the plate is then removed, allowed to drain and placed to dry. This can best take place by leaving the plate against a wall, standing the lower narrower side on several layers of filtering paper, the film side of course to be toward the wall or support to avoid dust. The use of a drying-rack, on which the plate stands edgewise is less recom- raendable as the rack is seldom overclean, and because absorption of the coloring bath solution from the edges of the plates by the filtering paper is preferable.
The sensitizing is best eflEected the last thing at night, after all other work in the dark room has been finished, and the plates left to dry over night, which under normal conditions will give sufficient time for complete drying. To avoid mistakes, it may be as well to mention that a stronger solution of coloring matter
than that given above will not add to the color- sensitiveness, but on the contrary the general sensitiveness of a plate overloaded with color- ing matter will be diminished, on account of the appearance of a so-called "veiling." The 6 c. m. of erythrosin solution i to 500 as given above is to be considered as the maximum quantity, which must not be exceeded. Further, sufficient stress cannot be laid on the necessity of working with clean hands, for the whole re- sult depends largely on cleanliness. The plates must be removed very carefully from the bath, as finger marks infallibly leave spots in subse- quent development. Any hasty movement liable to cause a disturbance of dust must be avoided, as dust falling on the plate will adhere to same and leave spots. It is best to throw away the once used sensitizing bath, a loss which need not be taken into consideration on account of the very small cost of the bath and the ease of preparing the same.
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OrthochromaHc states
fAPRM.
'MID FLOWCRY MCAOB
TMC WANTON ZCPMYfl ROVCB.'
K. Eickemey<rr^Jr.
The bath in above proportion will work cor- rectly and is, generally speaking, preferable to any bath containing nitrate of silver. The plates also remain clearer. The keeping qual- ity of an erythrosin sensitized plate is limited. It works best after three days, but after five or six days decomposition sets in, beginning at the edges and advancing to the middle of the plate. It is not, therefore, a good plan to sen- sitize any great quantity of plates at a time.
The blue-sensitiveness of such plates is ma- terially slighter than with ordinary plates, but
the use of a yellow screen is advisable.
The effectiveness of other coloring matters, mentioned above, which sensitize for the same spectral zone, is less than of erythrosin.
The development of orthochromatic plates must also take place by diminished light, preferably in a covered tray, as otherwise fog will occur. Only when, by advanced develop- ment, the coloring matter can have no further disturbing action on the plate, can the latter be taken to the ruby light but not to an orange- yellow light, for examination and control.
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Lantern Slide Making
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LANTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGIN- NERS*
BY '* PRIMROSE HILL."
IV.— WHEN TO STOP DEVELOPMENT
(17) Two chief points for the beginner. Given a suitable negative, and a present day quality of commercially prepared plate, the slide maker may, at first, profitably concen- trate his attention upon two points. These are correct exposure and correct development. On previous pages we have explained how the reader may discover for himself the best time of exposure by means of one or two trial plates. We next wish to say a few words about correct development.
(18) When to stop development. Now the phrase ** correct development " may mean two different things. It may mean a developing mixture of certain proportions, so many grains of this and so many drops of that. Or it may ignore this side of the question and refer only to how long one should allow the developer to act. In other words, " when to stop develop- ment." It is in this second sense then that we are just now touching upon ** correct develop- ment." And for the moment we shall assume that the reader takes some one formula, either that on the plate box as recommended by the manufactures, or some well-known standard mixture such as that suggested in Chap. i. and sticks to this formula without any variation of its relative parts or proportions for the present.
(19) A simple but instructive experiment. Let us make the following experiment: Place a plate in contact with a negative and give it an exposure as near " correct " as can be esti- mated. Then turn down the lights, remove the plate, lay it face (/>., film) downward, and cut it into three more or less equal strips. Then place the three strips in a developing dish and pour on the developer. Watch matters closely. As soon as strip A is developed out enough to show what we may regard as a fairly good pic- ture by reflected light as we look at it as it lies in the dish, quickly remove it and drop it into the fixing bath. Now carry on development until strip B shows a satisfactory picture by transmitted light, /. ^., as we look through it. At this stage remove B and pass it at once into the fixing bath. Then let us carry on develop- ment with the third and last strip C until we see the details in the highest lights showing through the plate, and appearing at the back of the plate, i, ^., as we look at the back by re-
flected light. Then fix this strip. When all three strips have been thoroughly fixed and washed, mount them on a piece of clear glass side by side.
(20) The accompanying illustration. This will give us an approximate idea of the result of such an experiment. Strip A: This looked about right as a picture by reflected light be- fore fixing, yet when fixed and looked through, it is far too thin. The contrasts are not suffi- cient for projection on the screen, and no sky whatever is seen — only bare glass. Strip B : Remembering the appearance of this strip be- fore fixing as we looked through it, and seeing it after fixing, we observe that it does not now have quite the contrast it appeared to have. Moreover the clouds which were then dis- tinctly, if somewhat faintly, visible, seem to have lost some strength in the fixing bath. Strip C: On looking at this strip before fixing we saw little or nothing but a dark surface. On looking through it before fixing, only the sky and lighter parts seemed to have any prac- tical transparency. On looking at the back of the plate the sky and cloud details were all visi- ble through the film. After fixing, the front surface is still very dark. On looking through the plate the dark parts of the foreground are too dense for any ordinary lantern light to get through. They, therefore, must appear on the screen as patches of black. The sky, too, is gloomy and dark indeed.
On comparing the reproduction here shown with the actual slide made as described, we find that the two outside strips, A and C, agree fairly well with the originals, but the middle strip has in reproduction gained in contrast; The result is that we miss the suggestion of
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Arits S. yya/iams. Copyrighted 1899, by Geo. E. Matthews Co.
The Illustrated Buffalo Express Contest for Amateur Photographers, iSgq.
cloud in the sky, and the pools of water are too light, while the distant land is too dark. We must, therefore, ask the reader to imagine that the contrasts are rather less than what they here appear to be.
(21) Details of Exposure and Development. It will probably be of assistance to the isolated worker if we mention some of the details of the original strip slide. The negative was one of rather strong contrasts. If anything, under
rather than over exposed, and of the kind all loo familiar to the hand-camera man. The plate was an Imperial slow. The exposure was by gaslight. Time, fifteen seconds: distance between flame and printing frame, four feet.
(22) No hard and fast rule possible. A little thought will show the worker that he cannot work by any hard and fast rule. In the first place the nature of the subject may require variations of development. Again, we must
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take into account the strength of light of the lantern to be used. Thus a slide about right for an oil-lamp would be " eaten up *' as the phrase goes, /. e., flooded by the light of an electric arc lamp. Also we have to bear in mind the color of the slide.
V. VARIATION OF DEVELOPER.
(23) Modification of the last experiment. It is just possible that the reader may not possess a cutting diamond, and thus may think that he cannot make this experiment. In that case, however, we suggest that for once he is ex- travagant and uses three separate plates, giving each the same exposure, of course, but as above described, varying the time each plate is in the developing solution. This experiment will in- deed well repay its needed outlay of material and trouble. .
(24) Varying the constitution of the developer. So far we have confined our attention to two variations only. First we gave different lengths 01 time of exposure, and developed these all to- gether, i.e., varied the exposure for a constant time of development. Then we varied the length of time the plate was in the developer with a constant exposure. Our next step is to see what effect comes from varying the consti- tution of the developer with the same length of exposure. We now proceed as follows. Select- ing a negative showing a fair range of grada- tions from black to white, we place in contact with it an ordinary lantern plate and give such an exposure that previous experience has taught us would give fair results with a normal developer. After exposure, the plate is cut in half. Each half is then separately developed in solutions of different proportions of bromide, alkali, etc., until some corresponding partis of approximately the same visible grayness. The portions are then fixed, washed, and again put side by side. We can then judge the effect of the differently constituted developers.
It will help the reader if we here give him some actual details. The negative chosen was one of moderate strength and contrast. Its general character may be gathered from the accompanying illustration. The exposure was 20 seconds, at 4 feet from a gas-burner. The plate was then cut in half, and the parts marked A and B. To save repetition, the reader is in- vited to turn back to the standard hydrokinone developer as given in par. 7.
Strip A. Developer as follows:
One dram hydrokinone solution A (par. 7).
One grain potassium bromide.
Half dram alkali, solution B (par. 7).
Water to make one ounce. Note that the bromide is considerably in- creased. Normally it is half a grain per ounce, and in this case increased to one and a half grains. The alkali is cut down to one-half normal. The image takes longer time than usual to appear, and gains density somewhat slowly. In this case development was carried on until the sky part was a very pale gray by reflected light. After fixing, this slight reduc- tion deposit is barely visible. The developer was as follows, the object, of course^ being in this case to accentuate contrasts. Strip B.
Half dram hydrokinone solution A (par. 7).
Two drams alkali solution B (par. 7).
Water to make one ounce. Note that we here double the normal quantity of alkali and halve the normal proportion of reducing agent and bromide along with it in the same proportion. Development quickly began, and proceeded also quicker than with the other strip. It was carried on until the sky part also just showed a slight grayness. Be- fore fixing, the grayness of the sky part in both strips was very nearly equal; but after fixing, the difference, slight though it now is, is rather more than it was before fixing. This is a small point, but is worth bearing in mind for future reference; and it is just as well here to note that with slow development we apparently get less loss in the fixing bath than with quicker development. If now we turn to the two por- tions of the illustration we shall hardly fail to see that while the sky and very light parts of
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each half are equally white or light, yet the darkest parts of each half show a well-marked diflFerence, e.g,^ the shadow sides of the upper parts of the houses; or, again, we may see the increase of contrast between light and dark in the reflections in the water. Now, the teaching of this experiment is that by modifying the constituents of the developer we can, to some extent, alter the degree of contrast in the re- sulting slide.
(25) The practical importance of this experi- ment is obvious. As, for example, given a negative thin, delicate, and weak. Required to make from it a slide of stronger contrast. The course is indicated by the treatment given to strip A, where our aim was to accentuate or in- crease contrasts. On the other hand, given a negative of the kind so often made by the hand- camera man, viz.,onQ of marked contrasts; dense high-lights and shadows thin, with but a modi- cum of detail. In that case the course to fol-
low is suggested by the treatment given to strip B, where our aim was to reduce contrasts, and aim at a soft rather than a sparkling result.
Finally, the beginner must here be told that the modifications of the developer as above given (par. 24) are by no means final. Our aim was to produce from the same exposure two half slides, one slightly, but not absurdly, erring towards thinness, the other slightly too strong in contrast. When we come to speak of de- velopment with other agents, such, for instance, as pyro, ortol, etc , we shall show how, by some- what similar procedure, we can control the de- gree of contrast. The beginner also may be tempted to conclude somewhat too hastily that the similar results may be attained by length- ening or shortening the time of exposure or time in the developer. The effects are certainly similar, but are not the same, as we shall strive to show by examples in a subsequent chapter.— A mateur Photographer.
{To be continued.)
American Journal of Photography^— February ♦
Several excellent articles of practical value amply make up for a deficiency of pictures. "An Ideal Crossing/' by S. S. Garrett, is a clever description of a voyage across the " Her- ring-pond," though of no use photographically. H. G. Abbott writes on " Passe-Partouts, and How to Make Them ; " J as. Kay on " Testing the Lens ; " J. Raphaels on "Toning with the Brush ; " J. Gibson on " Improving Undertimed Negatives ; " and H. Howland on " Inclining the Camera."
** Testins: the Lcnst*' by Jas. Kay. In the first place look to the camera and see what is the quality of the grain in the ground glass focusing screen. The granularity should be of a degree of fineness as will admit of magnification by a glass. It will not suffice to oil the glass, thereby making it more translucent ; this may lighten up the image on the ground glass, but will
in no way get rid of the coarseness. The grain itself must be fine.
Next, find out whether the surface of the g^round glass is precisely in the same plane as that which the sensitive plate will occupy when fixed in position. This deter- mination of equality of distance from the lens cannot be accurately ascertained by the method which is generally pursued, of pushing a foot-rule through the opening in the front board of the camera and noting how far it goes, and then trying in the same way a plate in the slider.
A more accurate way consists in laying a rule across the focusing-glass frame and inserting between the edge of the rule and the surface of the glass a slip of card- board cut in the form of a wedge, and noting the distance it can be inserted, and making a mark with a pencil at the place where it touches the straight rule. Next, insert a glass plate in the slider or holder and go through the same operation of measurement. If the point of contact of the wedge is the same in both measurements then, for all piactical purposes, the two planes are co- incident.
This latitude which is thus allowed the lens may some-
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AN AFTCflNOON'S SPORT.
Wm, A, McCord. Cepyrighted 1899, by Gro. E. Alatthtws Co.
T/iird Prize, First Class, Figure Studies. The Illustrated Buffalo Express Contest for Amateur Photographers, i8gg.
times enable the photographer to call on his lens for a little more area of dimension even with a full aperture or to go even further with a small stop. Then if he wished to make a plate say 5 x 12, a sort of panoramic view, he would find that his diagonal being in this case exactly 13 inches, while the diagonal of allowance falls a little within 13 inches, he is treading on dangerous ground though he might get there safely with the help of a small stop.
The next point to consider is whether his lens is achromatic. 1 cannot stop to tell the beginner what this means, but shall merely say that, in ordinary constructed lenses there arc two foci, the visual and the chemical foci, which do not coincide. When this coincidence does not happen there is formed a prismatic fringe about the image on the glass just as one sees objects through a glass prism. A small stop is no good here and the chromatic aberration must be corrected by suit- able combination of lenses made of glass of different dispersive powers.
Astigmatism, is a very serious fault, for a lens. It allows the lens to g^ve sharpness only at the centre of the field, but no amount of racking of the bellows in or out will get the other parts of the field as sharp. To test for astigmatism place a black cross upon a white card, that is a vertical line crossed by a horizontal line.
Focus the cross sharply upon the ground-glass centre and it will be noticed that the image of the two cross lines is well defined and equally distinct. Now move the camera about so that the image of the cross is brought to either top, side or bottom of the ground glass and examine the image very carefully and it will be found to lack in sharpness. Rack the camera in and out and a point will be found at which the horizontal bar will be sharp while the vertical one will be out of focus and often very blurred. Now rack again and the vertical line will be- come sharp and the horizontal blurred.
It will seem that the great objection to astigmatism is the distortion it causes in the picture. The image is either elongated or inordinately flattened in the other direction.
Flatness of field is of course a great desideratum. A perfect lens is one which, while it g^ves definition at the centre of field with full opening, at the same time main- tains that brilliancy ai points farthest away from centre of plate.
To determine flatness of field. PIhcc the camera opposite a series of objects of the same kind and at some distance from them, a row of houses will do ; focus with great accuracy at the centre of the ground glass. Ob- serve the crispness of definition and compare this sharp- ness with that at the margins. A small stop of course
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will materially flatten the field, but our object is to put the lens to a severe test and make what allowance we chose for practical working.
To determine whether your lens is perfectly rectilinear, that is, g^ves perfectly straight lines in the image.
Focus at the centre of plate, or any straight object such as the wall of a house, and observe whether the vertical lines remain so when you shift the image close to the edge of the plate. The more or less curvature shows the degree in which the lens falls short of rec- tilinearity.
^ Toning with the Brushy'' by J* Raphaels*
Platinum printing and carbon printing may be so manipulated that local development may accomplish excellent eflfects.
But my object is to point out the facility with which double and triple tones may be had with the ordinary printing-out papers by local application of chemical baths.
As far back as 1865, examples of mulriple toning were shown by modification of the gold bath alone ; the flesh tints possessed a degree of natural truth, and the hair and clothing were skilfully represented.
Recently Dr. Raubert, of Germany, revived an inter- est in the process by exhibition of a number of excellent examples. We shall draw on his experience and de- scribe the detail of his method.
The print is to be strongly printed, then thoroughly washed, as in the usual manner, then placed while wet, face up, in a shallow porcelain dish, which has been previously mosi thoroughly cleansed. It is now ready for the toning operation. For this purpose prepare three diflferent toning baths: a gold, a platinum, and a ura- nium bath.
The first g^ves, according to the duration of action of the toning, brown, velvet, purple, or blue tones; the second, blacks and g^ays; the third, red and flesh tones.
The toning is locally applied by means of a brush, which should be as soft as possible, and without a trace of metalic mountings.
The constitution of the gold bath:
Water 4 ounces
Borax 15 grains
Just before using add i drachm of solution of gold:
Gold a grains
Water x ounce
The constitution of platinum bath:
Water k6 ounces
Potassio-platinum chloride 15 grains
Phosphoric acid x drachm
Constitution of uranium bath:
(A) Water 4 ounces
Uranium nitrate xs grains
(B) Water 4 ounces
Ferricyanide potassium 15 grains
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Mix just before using.
If we have a portrait to operate upon, begin by toning the background with gold, taking care not to encroach upon the face.
After the proper tone has been reached, wash the print well off under the tap.
Next comes the hair. If this is to be auburn, allow the bath to ripen a little before use. For deep brown, add more gold to the bath, taking care, however, to neutralize it with proper amount of alkali. Black hair is obtained by using first the gold bath and following with the platinum.
^ When the proper degree of tones are obtained, wash and fix as usual:
Water 16 ounces
Hypo 1 ounce
and again wash. After fixing, if it is found that the gold toned portions are not just what we desire, they may be modified by application of the gold solution. That is, one may streng^en the pupil of the eye, for in- stance. This can only be done with gold. No improve- ment of the platinum tones can be effected after fixing.
The uranium toning which gives the fiesh tints is done exclusively after the fixing. Do not let the ura- nium solution act too long, else the portion will be too deeply toned.
Wash again, and all is complete.
Photo Era« — ^Fcbfaarjr*
This issue is one of the best the publishers have yet put forth both in pictorial and literary matter. Daniel F. Gay writes on " A Salon Picture," and illustrates his article with his ** A Gray Day at Gloucester," which was exhibited at the recent Philadelphia Salon. An interest- ing article is descriptive of A. E. Fowler's pic- tures taken in Holland. Osborne Yellott criticises Miss Watson's recent exhibit at Boston, S. E. Maxwell writes on '* The Tyro in Photog- raphy," E. M. Miller on ** Snow Scenes with Clouds," both of value to the beginner; W. E. R. Wells shows us " How to Make a Bellows and Home," and B. W. Pennock talks on " Platinotype Printing."
A SaloQ Pktttre, by Daniel F. Gay*
Our pictures are the result of either inspiration or of well-thought-out plans, or a combination of the two. In landscape work a certain element of chance enters; tor we cannot control the light and force it to our will, as in the studio. I have seen many prints where the maker had seized the chance, with the inspiration; but, for lack of thought, the real picture had been missed.
While in Gloucester during the summer, I became particularly impressed with the beauty of reflections on windless days, as the water undulated wich the coming and going tide. Among several exposures made with this in mind was the negative of the accompanying illus- tration. The half-dropped sails, suggestive of a com- pleted voyage, were particularly pleasing. The day was dull gray, and the finished print lacked any suggestion
or quality which would make it a picture of value. It lacked atmosphere, the distance being so strong in lighi and shadow that it came forward into the same plane with the boat. The water in the lower left-hand comer lacked all quality; and the sky reminded me of the old- time commercial prints, when the photographer smoked the back of his negative to get a '* nice white sky." How to make actual the possibilities was the problem, and by following a well-thought-out plan the print from which the frontispiece was engraved was produced.
In nature the shadows are softened by distance, and the high lights are toned dt>wn until on a far horizon the two are of an even grayish-blue tone. To soften the shadows in this print, a piece of cardboard, cut to rough shape of the buildings and wharves, was held over the distance (with slight motion to soften the line} for a por- tion of the time while printing. This raised the tone of the shadows.
To remedy the sky, I laid my print on an appropriate cloud negative, and crumpled a piece of cloth to the shape of the sky line and up over the sails. This was kept moving, while printing, from the water line to quarter of an inch above the sky line. The cloud nega- tive was thin over the buildings and wharves, so the high lights were thus toned down nearer the shadows. In this print the clouds printed on to the sails somewhat, so the outlines of the sails was cut from a print and laid over them on the back of the cloud negative. This shielded the sails from the clouds, and the thickness of the negative glass softened the line of shadow made by the cut out.
The distance now fell back both because of the de- stroyed contrasts and the perspective of the sky, but the lower left-hand comer still lacked quality. To obviate this, the cloud negative was turned over and inverted on I he print, where the reflection of the sky would properly fall, and printed into a portion of the corner by drawing a cloth from the comer into the centre of the print and back slowly.
Wilson's Photographfc Magazine — ^February*
This number opens with a symposium re- garding "Old vs. New Methods in Portraiture." Hemperley, of Philadelphia, and Estabrook, of Elizabeth, N. J., came out strongly against the new school, or** freak" photography, as they are pleased to name it. Estabrook says as fol- lows : " Now, if we take nature as the standard, must we not accept Guerin's opinion as the nearest right ? He says flowing lines, richness of detail, and lustrous surface — commonly called chemical effect — approach nearer the divine plan than the crude fuzziness, the deadly flatness and harsh contrast of the so-called new- style, but which is nothing on earth other than an attempt to cover up incapacity and ignorance by an attempt to revert to the earlier dark ages, in imitation of the old masters, who are only masters because, considering the times in which they lived and their limited facilities, they ac-
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complished wonderful things for their age." Shades of Rubens and Daguerre ! What out- spokenness. The consensus of opinion is evi- dently against Mr. Estabrook, however, to judge from the other letters, which include an able "plea" for the new method from Mock, of Rochester.
** Portraits of Old People "; a short critique on the recent Salon of the American Institute, and " How to Make Idle Cameras Pay " comprise the remaining original articles.
*^ Portraits of Old People-^
Stiffness (in posing) in old people is often a stumbling block to the photographer, but the advice to '* take the old people quietly " is the key to the situation. We often hear men boast that they never pose their sitters. Like many statements, it has some truth and more error in it. They mean they do not place iheir sitter in a conven- tional predetermined position, but note— often in- stinctively and without conscious effort — the natural and characteristic attitude of the subject. — Don't underex-
pose. The slightest underexposure and resultant forc- ing is fatal. In old age we require the softness of full exposure, or we shall get hard lines.
The Photographic News> England. — ^Fcbmar y 9.
"Control in Carbon Printing," by W. H. Witthaus; *' Astronomical Photography," by Canes Venatici, and ** River Scenery and Shipping with a Hand Camera," by Vivian Hyde, are interesting articles.
** Astronomical Photography/' by Canes VenaticL
The most simple way that I can direct the footsteps of the young astronomical photographer is by using an ordinary landscape camera with a lens of the single achromatic combination , order of fairly large aperture, which lens must also be moderately long in focus, say about 24 in. to 36 in. focus. The longer the focus the larger will be the image of the object in diameter.
Take the moon, for instance. In a lens having a focus of 3 ft. the diameter of the image measured on the focusing screen will be as near as possible ^^ths of an inch in diameter, which, of course, is very small. The proportional increase in diameter is Jgth of an inch for every 12 inches of focus. Let the in&trument be either a photographic lens, refracting telescope, or even on the reflecting principle, Newtonian con.'^truction.
Why I chiefly advocate for the beginner a landscape lens and camera is that for astronomical work it is ab- solutely necessary to have some means whereby we can keep the ob- ject stationary, as it were, on the screen, otherwise a blurred image would be the result {through chiefly the motion of the earth moving in an opposite direction) and entirely fatal, if afterwards it is desired to make an enlargement therefrom.
Now, if we can by some simple way arrange to keep the object in view on the screen of finder whilst exposing, a very fine sharp image will result, and one that will bear enlarging to six or seven times. Attach a finder with a lens and screen, which is, in fact, a smaller camera, to the top of the camera. Make a cross in the center of the screen of the finder, which must correspond exactly with a cross on the screen of the large camera, so that when the moon, for instance, is centered on the camera cross-mark screen, it shall be like- wise on the finder screen, and finder clamped on to the top of camera so that they shall always agree. When the plate ^1^^^ is ready for exposing in the camera, and looking at the finder screen, the R. Eickemeyer.jf. keeping of objects perfectly motion-
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less on some particular part of the cross and expos- ing, it \vill surprise the operator at the ease by which such a great apparent difficulty has been overcome. Bear in mind that by shifting the camera from one point to another, you at the same time carry the finder too.
The screens should be of the finest surface possible. A piece of putty rolled over the surface of a piece of dean glass will form a nice grained surface that will do for a temporary affair if nothing better can be obtained. The finest screens are made by the aid of fluoric acid fumes, but, as this is a very dangerous substance for in- experienced hands to meddle with, it is better to pur- chase a couple of screens.
Regarding the rapidity of the plate, I advise an ordi- nary brand of plate — those used for landscape work are sufficiently rapid and easy to develop. In making a start it will be advisable to have a friend to help to make the exposure whilst the operator is keeping the object on the finder screen, and make an exposure at the word of command, when all is ready. Two or three seconds' exposure for the moon when she is in her first quarter will be ample, and will make a more interesting subject than if taken when full. In taking a shot at the sun wait until there are one or two black spots on its surface, and, when exposing, an in- stantaneous shutter ot the drop principle will answer splendidly. One to two hours will be required for the planets Jupiter and Saturn ; ten minutes up- wards for some of the nebulae in Orion, Perseus, Andromeda. &c. Comets form very interesting .sub- jects, and almost any amount of exposure can be given —the more the better. Using a well restrained devel- oper, with careful application of the accelerator, will combine to give good results, and amply repay the op- erator for his trouble. I might add that it will be ad- visable to include a little bit of the landscape or house- top or chimney, if possible, on to the bottom edge of negative, which will make the results all the more inter- esting. If, after using this very simple piece of appa- ratus, and the op>erator becomes fascinated with astro or celestial photography, let me strongly advise him to go in for a reflecting telescope of the Newtonian form ; if. perhaps, his pocket is not a lengthy one, to simply pur- chase a speculum of 7 to 12 ft. focus, with sp>eculum plane and eyepiece tube and jacket— that is, if he is of a mechanical turn of mind— and fit the telescope up himself, which is not a very difficult affair and need not cost very much .
The Practical Photogfraphcr, England— Febru- ary*
The English photographic journals have so frequently ridiculed the lack of original ma- terial in American journals and their general propensity to copy articles bodily, that it is really refreshing to note that the Practical Pho- tographer has copied two articles from The American Annual of Photography^ one from
Camera Notes, and one from Camera Obscura^ and has two original articles, but one of which is of any instructive value. This latter is C, H. Bothamley's " The Geneses of Two Nega- tives," in which he describes how he proceeded to obtain two negatives of two widely different and very difl&cidt subjects, a church vault, re- quiring an hour's exposure and a series of mouldings round the church windows requiring eight minutes' exposure with lens stopped down. His description is clear and should certainly be of use to any one taking similar subjects.
Photographische G>rrespondenz^ Austria — ^Fcb- fuarjr*
This number opens with a long article on "John Ruskin." Dr. A. Bogisch, in an exten- sive article, treats on the results of some ex- periments on the reducing power of certain de- velopers, results which, while valuable to the experimentalist, have but little value to the gen- eral reader. E. Valenta continues his " Experi- ments on the Sensitizing Effect of Coal Tar Pro- ducts on Bromide of Silver Gelatine Plates." He finds that Formyl- violet, an acid sodium salt of Tetraaethyldibenzylpararosanilindisulpho acid made by the Berlin Anilin Actien-Gesell- schaf t shows a band reaching from C almost to E on the spectrum scale, and is accordingly an excellent sensitizer.
Wiener Freie Photographen Zettung, Austria* February*
Many of the photographic magazines have this month an article on "Fox Talbot" whose birth centenary occurred Feb. nth.
The Wiener Freie Zeitung brings us nothing new in its article on " Talbot "; but in an article titled "Additional Notes on the History of Photography," A. Zankl brings forward a new claimant to the title of Father of Photog. raphy. He claims that Johann Augustin Pucher, born 1 814 in Krainburg in Krain, was the in- venter of Photography on Glass, having made use of glass as a support in 1843 when the Daguerreotype was in its zenith. As this ar- ticle is of interest, we shall next month repro- duce the same in these columns, the full text not yet being to hand.
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Advance notices of the Philadelphia Pho- tographic Salon for 1900 are being sent out by the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, full particulars being promised later. The commit- tees in charge are practically the same as those last year which is an assurance of success. We do hope, however, that the committee will not feel that it is necessary to extend the same kind of invitation to " distinguished " foreign pho- tographers as last year, or, at least, if the invita- tion to exhibit- is proffered, let it be with the proviso that all entries shall be subject to the decision of the Jury of Selection in like manner to the uninvited entries.
Many of the foreign art galleries now make yearly appropriations for the purchase of the best specimens of pictorial and artistic photog- raphy. This is as it should be, for the products of the artist with the camera are as worthy of preservation and public exhibition as those of the artist with the brush.
The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has a chance, which it should not let pass by, of forming a superb collection of the masterpieces of American photographers, and, with enlarged galleries now building, it should reserve space for such pictures for the benefit of future generations of New Yorkers and for the general advancement of present-day photog- raphy.
It had been our intention to show this month the work of the Photo-Club of Paris. Mr. Buc- quet, the President, writes us, however, that owing to preparations for their exhibition, the members have been unable to respond to his request for pictures at present. The Paris Photo-Club set will, therefore, appear later, and as Mr. Bucquet has personally charged himself with the selection of the same, our readers may look forward to an excellent showing of the French School.
IMPORTANT NOTICE.
There are certain amateur and professional photographers who have gained the impression that the **Argo'* developing paper — which every one acknowledges to be the best develop- ing paper on the market — has the disadvantage of having to be developed with amidol. What has given rise to that impression is more than any one can tell, except that the manufacturers recommend an amidol formula in preference to any other. It is well to mention, therefore, that the Argo developing paper will work quite satisfactorily with any developer. Pyrocatechin gives most beautiful results, and also the metol- quinole developer, as follows :
Water 20 ounces.
Metol 7 grains.
Sodium sulphite crystal, pure ^ ounce.
Hydrochinone 30 gp*ains.
Sodium carbonate, desiccated 200 grains.
(or 400 grains of crystal carbonate)
ic^ bromide of potash S(»lution , about 10 drops.
The above formula is substantially the same as the Nepera Chemical Co.'s metol quinole developer, except that the quantity of water is 20 ounces, instead of 10 ounces.
It would be well also to mention, that when absolute black and white tones are required or desired, it is best not to use any bromide in the developer. The results obtained on Argo de- veloping paper are so similar in range of tone and general effect to the Willis & Clements platinotype paper, that experts are unable, at times to tell the difference.
The Actlen-Qesellschaft fur Anllln-Fabiikatlon of Berlin well deserves thanks for the manufacturing of modern developing substances. Their Rodinal, Eikono- gen. Amidol, Diogen, etc., are nowadays known in the whole world, and are much employed, on account of their quality and handmess, not only by amateurs but also by professional photographers. In order to give a complete view of all the manufactures of their photo- graphic department, the said firm has published for the year 1900 a little pamphlet containing in twenty pag^s a detailed description of five developers and their instriSt- tions for use. We further find directions for the Agfa- Intensifier. The useful pamphlet may. therefore, be urgently recommended.
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TM eoiTOR'S TABLe.
••Nature's Miracle," by ElUha Gray, Ph.d., LL.D.— This is a valuable work in three small volumes, and well intended to popularize science. These volumes are ** familiar " talks; the author sits down with you, so to speak, [and does not hold you at arm's length* The language used is that of common life, and when any technical name is used, the author makes it his aim to explain its meaning. The thousands of readers are thus reached w^ho have not, and cannot have, the advan- tage of a scientific education, but who can, by this means, at least get a rudimentary idea of some of the natural laws with which they are coming in contact every hour, and through which the inner man is con- stantly communicating with the outer world.
Volume first, which has just been issued, treats of world-building and life, viz., earth, air, and water. Volume second, of energy and vibration, viz., force, heat, light, sound, explosives. Volum? third, electricity and magnetism.
In this age of reasoning and investigation, when our beliefs cannot longer be held by arbitrary dogmas, and when science is appealed to to sustain our negations — especially by those who are less familiar with it— the aim of popularizing science deserves praise as well as gratitude. It would be well for many to endeavor to ascertain what science does really have in store for us. For instance, under the caption " Why Does Ice Float?" a query arises which furnishes material for a great deal of thought. It is recognized as a fundamental law that heat expands and that cold contracts; that the atom, when in a state of intense motion — which is the condi- tion producing the effect that we call heat— requires more room than when its motions are of less amplitude. In other words, an increase in the amplitude of atomic motion is heating, while a decrease is cooling. It fol- lows from the above statement that the cooler a body becomes the smaller will be its dimensions, but water is an exception to this law, so much so that a cubic foot of ice — which is solidified water— will not weigh as much as a cubic foot of water before it freezes, hence it floats. Why does water follow a different law in cooling from that of all other substances? This is a case where it is much easier to ask the question than it is to answer it. As Prof. Gray says, ** If it were not for this exception to the laws of expansion and contraction by heat and cold, our lakes would freeze from the bottom upwards, and gp-adually the world would become a great glacier, rendering not only the lakes and rivers, but also the sur- face of the earth, unfit for animal life. Is this excep- tion the work of an Ordainer, or is it a fortuitous cir- cumstance ?
Fords, Howard & Hulbert, New York, publishers.
The Kings* Lyrics. By Fitz Roy Carrington ; R. H. Russell, New York.
A collection of poems of the time of James I. and Charles I. has been made by Mr. Fitz Roy Carrington, and published by R. H. Russell. The little volume, illustrated with quaint prints of the period, is called "The Kings* Lyrics;'* and those who know its com- panion volume, * The Queen's Garland," will feel sure, even before seeing *• The Kings' Lyrics, ' that Mr. Carrington has again used rare good taste in his work of compiling. 4)4 x b% inches. Price 75 cents.
OABCHICK'S NCST. From " Otir Rartr British Brttding Birds''
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The Editor's Table
191
From ** Our Rarer British Breeding Birds.'"
Our Rarer British Breeding Birds, by R. Kearton, F. Z. S., with illustrations from photographs by C. Kearton.
The brothers Kearton have just put forward this volume as a supplement to their former work on '• British Birds' Nests/' which they published in 1895.
Some idea may be gathered of the trouble and ex- pense involved in the collecting of photographs and facts for the preparation of this book when it is men- tioned! that the brothers Kearton have travelled about ten thousand miles whilst engaged upon it They have culled their materials from different parts of England, Scotland. Ireland, Wales, and the surrounding islands, and the book includes pictures of the nests, eggs, or breeding haunts of nearly sixty species not pictorially represented in their previous work.
When it is mentioned that these include such rare specimens as the marsh, Montagu, and hen harriers, kite, whimbrel, siskin, crossbill, chough, Kentish plover, osprey and red necked phalarope, and in addition the adult birds of several species such as the last two, the value of the book to all bird lovers will be apparent.
The work the brothers Kearton are doing could well be emulated by some of our naturalist photo- graphers here, of whom we have not a few. Cherry Kearton's work with the camera has been described in these pages before. Cloth, g^lt top, $2.00. Cassell & Co., publishers, New Yerk.
Monthly, again shows the remarkable power of Miss Johnston as a story-teller. Historic novels, as such, are apt to be tedious and stilted, but in "To Have and To Hold " we have a book which not even the most careless of readers can put aside unfinished. The dramatic plot, the interest of the time and place and incidents in which the story moves ; the historic figures which give it life and the impress of truth ; the swift-moving scenes and the tremendous passions of the actors— all these make this novel one of ex- traordinary power. The hero, Captain Ralph Percy, gentleman adventurer, is a character after our own heart, and his struggles with the King's favorite, with fate, with the London Company controlling the Colony of Virginia, with the Indians, and, not least.
**To Have and to Hold," by Mary Johnston, with illustrations by Howard Pyle, etc. This story, which has been running serially in the Atlantic p„o rLY-cATCHfn-* nc«t.
From ''^ Our Rarer British Breeding Birds.'
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V
192
The Editor's Table
[April
with the coldness of his wife, bought from amongst a consignment of maidens from England for 120 pounds of tobacco, make up a tale of intense interest, and -it is safe to predict that it will have phenomenal popular- ity. $1.50. Houghton, Miflain & Co., Publishers. Boston, Mass
Formules, Recettes et Tables. By Dr. J. M. Eder, translated into French by G. Braun, Fils. An excellent collection of valuable formulas, which every photograph needs, covering the whole range of photography and re-
production. The third part of the book, consisting of tables, is of particular interest. $1.00. Gauthiers- Villars, Paris, Pmnce.
Deutscher Photographen Kalender, 1900. Published by K. Schwier. in two parts. This is one of the most useful German Annuals pub- lished, and gives an abundance of matter not to be found in the other annuals. It is in pocket-book size and most convenient to handle. Price 75 cts. Deutschen Photographen Zeitung, Weimar, Germany.
^HE <PHOTOGRA<PHIC "HMES ItECORD
Of Gmipetftions Open to Photographers.
|
NAME |
ADDRESS New York |
SUBJECT |
PRTZKS |
CLOSING DATE |
RESTRICllONS |
REMARKS |
|
Photographic Thncs |
Book lUus- tration |
$175.00 Cash and 1 Sept. 1, 6 Medals | 1900 |
None |
See January Number |
||
|
Photographic Timet |
New York |
Lantern Slides |
1 Silver Medal 1 Bronze Medal |
April 1, 1900 |
See Rules |
|
|
Photographic Timet 1 New York |
Still Life Study |
1 Silver Medal 1 Bronze Medal |
May 1, 1900 |
See Rules |
||
|
Ladiet' Home Journal |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
Attractive Outdoor Scenes in the Country |
1 at $160.00 1 at 100.00 1 at 76.00 1 at 50.00 1 at 85.00 10 at 10.00 |
November 1, 1900 |
Sec Journal for April |
Address Art Bureau |
|
Ladies' Home Journal |
Philadelphia, |
Booth at any Fair or Festival |
1 at $100.00 1 at 50.00 8 at 85.00 6 at 10.00 |
'%'' |
See Journal for March |
Address Art Bureau |
|
Ladlet' Home Journal |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
Window- Gardens |
$76.00, ^.00 and |
April 1, 1900 |
See Journal |
Address Art Bureau |
|
Indianapolit Pren |
Indianapolis, IndV |
Changed Bi- weekly |
$5.00, $8.00 and ' „, ^ $r00 1 Bi-weekly |
Must use Coupon Amateurs only |
See Paper |
|
|
Lct&e't Weekly |
New York, N. Y. |
Recent Cur- rent Events |
$5.00 Cash |
Weekly |
Amateurs No Copynght Pictures |
$1 paid for each photograph used |
|
Patent Recofd |
Baltimore, Md. |
Unique Sub- jects and Re- cent Current Events |
$5.00, $8.00 and $8.00 |
16th of each month |
Amateurs |
Sec Paper |
|
Mail and Ezprets |
New York, N. Y. |
General |
$5.00 Weekly |
Amateurs No Copyright Pictures |
No Pictures Re- turned |
|
|
IIL BuHalo Ezpren |
Buflfalo. N. Y. |
Cash |
Annual |
See Paper |
Photographs pub- lished ancTpaid for liberally |
|
|
The Camera |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
Cash and Mater- ials |
See Rules |
Held Monthly |
||
|
The American Boy |
Detroit, Mich. |
No Set Sub- ject |
$8.00 |
Monthly |
Subscribers* only |
$1. paid for each photograph used |
|
Wettem Camera Notes |
Minneapolis, Minn. |
General |
Cash and 1 March 81, Materials | 1900 |
Subscribers and Ama- „ .^ .. teurs only. See Rules "«*d Monthly |
||
|
Photo Beacon |
Chjc^o. |
Snow n^u. Pictures »oo*» |
March 81, 1900 |
See Rules. |
Held Monthly |
|
|
Photo Beacon |
Chicago, lU. |
Local Intcnsi- o^u. fication ^^^ |
April 80, 1900 |
See Rules |
Held Monthly |
|
|
Cottage and Castle |
New York |
General |
$5.00 Cash |
15th of each month |
Amateurs only |
See Rules |
|
Outdoor Life |
Denver, Colo. |
Still Life |
1.000 Grain Silver Medal |
April 7, 1900 |
Use Coupon |
Held Monthly See Magazine |
|
Outdoor Life |
Denver, Colo. |
Animals |
1,000 Grain Silver Medal |
May 7, 1900 |
Use Coupon |
Held Monthly See Magazine |
|
Evening Telegram |
New York, N.Y. |
News Events or Odd Scenes in N.Y. Stote. |
$80.00, f 10.00 and April 1, $6.00 1900 |
Amateurs only See Paper |
No Pictures Re- turned |
All publications holding competitions open to photogp-aphers are invited to send in full particulars of same for insertion in above Record, as it is desired to make it as complete as possible.
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THE
Photographk
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monthly-^gazi
devoted-to-the
INTERESTS- or- AKTISTIC^rSCIENTIF ^ FHOTOGRAPm
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THE*PHOTOGRAPHIC-TIAVES'PUBLISHI
A&SOC1ATIONK60^ahd^62'>F.ASM1^^STaNEW^Y(
Digitized by
CONTENTS
Frontispiece— By Gertrude Kasebier opp. 193
Another View Regarding ** Chance" Photographs
—By H. A. Beasley 193
Portrait— By A. Wentworth Scott— Illustration . . . . 193
Panel— By Th. & O. Hofmeister— Illustration 194
Gertrude Kfisebier— By Sadakichi Hartman— Illus- '
trated 195
Landscape— By Gertrude Kasebier— Illustration 195
Study — By Gertrude Kasebier— Illustration 196
Portrait Group— By Gertrude Kasebier— Illustration 197
Study— By Gertrude Klisebier— Illustration 198
Indian Girl— By Gertrude KSse bier— Illustration. . . 199 PhotoCTaphing Fortifications- By Wm. Alex. Miller
—Illustrated. 200
Study— Bj Gertrude Kasebier— Illustration 302
An Inquiry into the Early History of Photogra- phy— Illustrated 202
Louis Jacques Mande Dagnerre — Illustration 203
Joseph Nicephore Ni^pce — Illustration 203
Landscape — By N. w. Carkhuflf— Illustration 204
Cardinal D'Amboite— Illustration 205
** The End of a Windy Day "—By Geo. W. Norris—
— Illustration 206
At- Home Portraiture— By Edgar Felloes — Illus- trated 207
Nance O'Neill— By Edgar Felloes— Illustration 208
Nance O'Neill— By Edgar Felloes— Illustration 209
Rubbing Down Negativesr— By W. H 209
Suggestions on Pictorial Composition— By J, A. Gal- lagher 210
••The New Arrivals "—By H. A. Beasley— Illus- tration 210
Landscape— By Alfred Clements — Illustration sii
Labor Earns Rest — By Alfred Werner — Illustration 212 Mr. Button's Grande Shedoover— By D. H. Tal-
mack^e 212
Spring Pastoral— By A. Cochrane— Illustration. ..213 Figure Study— By W. von Gloeden— Illustratioii. . . 214 Sunset— By W. J. Mullins— Illustration 215
A Plea for the Artistic in Photography— By Walter E. Bertling , . .
A Washing Box— By H. C. Dclery— Illustrated.. . .
How to Keep Sodium Sulphite — By C. E. Ma^Ewell — Illustrated *
Waterproof Labels — By Francis Barklie
Lantern-Slide Making for Beginners — By Priflut>se Hill
An Old Virginian— By F. T. Aschman— Illustration
Plein-aire Portrait— By R. Diihrkoop- Illustratioii.
A Bit of Old Franklin— By W. J. Mullins— Illustra- tion
Our Competitions— Illustrated
Study of a Child— By Mrs. Helen P. Gatch— Illus- tration
Study of a Child— By Annie Pilsbury— Illustration.
Study of a Child— By Mrs. A. E. Boughner— lUus- tration
Study of a Child— By Mrs. C. S. Hayden— Illustration
Density in ** Snap-Shot " Negatives
Our Monthly Digest •
Study of a Child— By Myra Albert Wiggins— Illus- tration
Panorama of the Cascade Mountains — By A. H. Waite— Illustrations 226,
Group Portrait— by Gertrude K^bier — Illustration
Study of a Child— By Mrs. Helen P. Gatch— Illus- tration
•• Prayer "—By E. Nicolai— Illustration
Novelties of the Season — Illustrated
Harvard Camera Club
Timidity— By R. S. Kaufman— Illustration
Regulations Regarding the Use of Cameras at the Paris . Exposition
Editorial Notes
Notes and News
Panel— By Alfred Clements— Illustration
The Editor's Table
Photographic Times Record
"5 2r€
2ii
3ii
21I 219
221
22t
22t 223
224 224 224 225
22s
227
232
ass
235
336 *37 «3l «39 aSf
24#
NOT A SUGGESTION . . .
...BUT A FACT
that
. . DISCO . .
the gelatine, non-curling, hard fdm. printing-out paper is also availaUe for
QUICK PRINTING
fay gaslight or by dayl^ht.
Afterwards— DEVELOP like a PLATE, usinz OUR SPECIAL FORHULA.
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
ARE THUS ABSOLUTELY INDEPEKDENT
OF THE WEATHER AND THE TRUST.
THE SCOVILL & ADAMS CO. OF NEW YORK,
60 & 62 East ElevdKV Street, New York.
Diaitteed^by VjOOQIC
Vol. XXXII.
MAY, 1900,
ANOTHER VIEW REGARDING "CHANCE" PHOTOGRAPHS.
BY H. A. BEASLEV.
IN the March number of The Photographic Times Mr. Swift advocated the exclu- sion of "chance" pictures from photo- graphic salons. While by fixing a higher standard we may now and then bar out a picture taken by one who is not an artist, in the true sense of the word, it is just possible that by excluding pictures which appear to be " chance shots *' that we may deal the art of photography a crushing blow by discouraging one who might be destined to achieve fame for himself and add another round to the ever- growing ladder of artistic photography. Of course I do not advocate the acceptance of pho- tographs having no merit; no one would be foolish enough to do that.
It is true a man now and then may stumble on a view among his collection which will have sufficient merit to be accepted at a salon ; but does he not deserve some credit for having selected a good picture to send to the exhibition ?
Surely if he has no art within him he will be unable to pick out a view which will stand the criticisms of a modern salon jury. Again, what one judge will discard as atrocious other mem- ^bers of the jury will applaud. This was the
se at the Philadelphia Salon, '99. Four mem-
srs of the Jury were standing before a certain photograph; two of them, in answer to the writer's question, admitted they could not see
anything in that particular photograph while the other two members were loud in their praises of the study, and they were quite sincere in their remarks too.
A man sends ten pictures to a salon, and has only one or two accepted by the jury. Are we to suppose that he is not entitled to have the two pictures hung simply because the other eight did not appeal to the jury ? I think not. It is quite fair to sup- pose that in examining a thousand or more pictures a jury cannot study each individual picture thor- oughly and no doubt worthy pic- tures are sometimes "
discarded in the rush which is often necessary. Many pictures only appeal to us after long study and frequently photographs which we would
A. Wentworth Scott.
►
Copyri^rht, 1900, by The Scovill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y.. Post Office.
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194
Chance Photographs
[May
discard at first glance grow to be our favorites as we gradually learn more and more about the art.
Artists of the ** chance " school are not apt to send pictures to salons year after year unless they are really fond of artistic photography; most of them would rather receive a dollar medal than to secure a plain certificate of ac- ceptance, and therefore the percentage of "chance" photographs submitted is apt to be rather small.
Many beautiful sunsets would be barred out from salons if " chance " pictures were not ad- mitted to their sacred precincts. The very fact that a man is able to see some good in the view before him — the pretty clouds, rough or calm waters, harmonious shapes in trees and plants — and takes advantage of his opportunity to secure a lasting memento of it is certainly worthy of commendation, and yet such pictures, strictly speaking, may be the result of " chance." Should such pictures be barred ?
One of the objects of a photographic salon, we should think, besides exhibiting those pictures " in which there is distinct evidence of individual artistic feeling and execution " should surely be the encouragement of those whose work ap- pears to be the forerunner of better things. If we throw "cold water" on their first attempts we may, unknowingly, stifle a coming Stieglitz, a Keiley, or a Demachy.
The old masters in instructing their pupils probably did not think the best way to instil art into their minds was to destroy their first
canvasses They probably were able to pick out one or two well executed parts, which helped to make up an inartistic whole, and while show- ing their scholars the way to correct their short- comings they undoubtedly commended them for the good sections of their work. Artistic photographers, like great painters, cannot learn everything in a day; they need encouragement and help as well as other beginners, and al- though an aesthetic temperament is half the battle it is astonishing how much dormant art is awakened by a well directed criticism or by seeing a collection of artistic photo- graphs.
Let the criterion be fixed higher, if need be, but if in the opinion of the jury, selected to de- cide whether or not pictures conform to the rules governing the salon, a " chance " picture should contain sufficient merit to entitle it to a place in the exhibition, I think the majority will agree that suck a picture cer- tainly could not harm anyone or mar, in the slightest, the character of the salon, while it may lead its fortunate maker to higher and better things.
We cannot all make the goal for which we strive; but, not wanting to give up the fight be- fore fairly beginning, it is to be hoped that fu- ture salons will not establish rules requiring 75 per cent, of a man's submitted work to be accepted before he is entitled to have any of his pictures hung or require him to answer a question as to whether the photographs were " chance " results or not.
Th, and O. Ho/meistrr.
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Gertrude Kasebier
195
Gertrude Kasebier.
GERTRUDE kASEBIER.
BY SADAKICHI HARTMANN.
FEW artistic photographers there are who of late have so much attraction for the public as Gertrude Kasebier. Many of her colleagries praise and admire her; she apparently claims the attention of all eyes in the photographic world, and boasts powers of fascination which none can resist. Kasebier's individuality is of a very special order.
It consists of a highly developed sense for the pictorial, a gift which belongs rather to the expression than the technique. The technical means, which she controls, consist largely of a knowledge to obtain chiaroscural and tonal effects. In lines she is deficient, her values are often painfully faulty, her space composition with few exceptions is nothing above the ordinary. Clever distribution of light and shade and harmony of tone, however, can be found in nearly all her pictures. And the pic- torial element is always predominant.
This gift of Mrs. Kasebier is incontestably a great gift; and her merit is the more remarka- ble in that, to obtain her effects, she makes no vulgar sacrifice, such as would degrade her work artistically.
But I cannot agree with Mr. Stieglitz who once declared in his Camera Notes that she was the leading artistic portrait photographer in America, thus indirectly making the statement that he considered her in no way inferior in point of originality to such an artist as F. H. Day. Of course this is a matter of opinions. But Day strikes me as being far more original than Kasebier by his exquisite imagination, his delighful caprices, his grace and his fanci- fulness.
Kasebier may be his equal in some respects, but her individuality, although very apparent, almost obtrusive, is rather a superficial one, one which can be analyzed, and traced to vari- ous origins.
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Gertrude Kasebier
[May
Gertrude Kd^ebier.
She has an ardent love of the picturesque, but her art is not based on observation.
Nothing that is going on around her in this great city seems to interest and excite her. Her sympathies are entirely restricted to a certain artistic atmosphere which she has created in her studio, and into which every sitter, no mat- ter how eager for actual, immediate reality he may be, is forced when he wants a picture.
They are not allowed to reveal the secrets of their existence or to lead the lives they live outside, they are simply transformed into pic- torial visions, such as Mrs. Kasebier sees fit to conjure up, from her store of knowledge. She knows the old masters so well, that she can imitate them to perfection. Of course I do not wish to convey the idea that she is nothing but a plagiarizer. She is a dreamer, and if you like a poet — but the old master and other phrases and formula of art are so deeply in- grained in her whole system that she cannot help herself. The visions of the past will in- variably rise, and as "the combination of subtle faculties" constituting her power of
expression only obey her at times, she does everything— posing the sitter, arranging her camera, developing and printing — more or less by chance.
If I go to her studio to-day, she may make a Holbein of me, to-morrow it would be a Rem- brandt, or a Mary Cassatt.
Thus, her vision of things will satisfy largely those temperaments, who, without deep culture and true appreciation, long for something bizarre and out of the ordinary, and demand of art that it shall principally amuse them, and titillate their nerves. Of course, they do not acknowledge this; they consider themselves the true connoisseurs, and anybody who does not share their views is not trained sufficiently to do so. For they hold that art should ever re- main a mystery reserved for the elect, an appendage of the fit and few — that is to say, themselves!
Nevertheless, there are few who have done as much as Mrs. Kasebier towards making com- mercial portraiture more refined and recherche.
From this point of view, her experiments
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198
Gertrude Kasebier
[May
Gertrude Kasebier.
deserve the fullest encouragement, and they have been amply justified in many cases It is only in bringing artistic photography to bear directly upon ordinary production that any aesthetic growth can be effected in the public taste.
On the other hand, without wishing to ascribe to a dominant artistic influence the credit due to Mrs. Kasebier, I may safely say that her work affords one of the examples of the influ- ence of a certain movement in modem art upon photography In painting this movement is represented in our country by men like H. W. Ranger, A. B. Davies, and Pamela Smith, etc.,
all of whom are remarkably clever, but lack concentration. They feed upon the past and are influenced by every suggestion they receive within the limited sphere of their environment.
They may possess a certain style of their own, but one which invariably reflects others, more or less in familiar use.
An artist, however, with the keen sensitive- ness and the intensity of vision possessed by Kasebier has no need to borrow the manner of other artists, be they who they may. When one is impressed so powerfully, so melodramatically, and at times so delicately, by the pictorial and ever varying spectacle of light and shade and
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Gertrude Kasebier
199
Gertrude KSLsebier.
tone harmonies, why use any language but one's own to express one's feelings and one's fan- cies? As well address a fellow countryman in some foreign tongue. The artist who has anything worth saying must say it in an original manner — that is, unlike anyone else ; for if in the course of his expression he
should allow himself to employ methods that are not original with him, but merely adopted and adapted, it will mean that what he had to say was really not worth the trouble saying.
These are the reasons why I have attacked Mrs. Kasebier in my criticisms.
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200
Photographing Fortifications
[May
PHOTOGRAPHING FORTinCATIONS.
BY WILLIAM ALEXANDER MILLER.
WHILE there is no statute ex- pressly prohibiting the pho- tographing of government fortifications in the United States, it is patent to the general public that there should be. This feel- ing is especially noticeable in military circles and every person in whose bosom American patriotism is felt has a strong conviction on this subject. So intense is this in some that it is hard to convince them that there is not already such a law, yet Judge Advocate General Lieber of the U. S. Army declares that it is the lament- able fact.
Frequent attempts have been made to get Congress to legislate on this matter but all have been failures from one cause or another, the most potent one being, perhaps, that the meas- ure lacked a good, energetic father.
The query often arises in the mind of the writer, should not the amateur photographic associations of the country take up the ques- tion boldly and unitedly present to Congress a
bill properly and strongly formed, urging its passage and enforcement. Would it not be a patriotic move and make many friends for the photographic world ? Obviously this procedure is far preferable to having Congress coldly enact a law that would apparently strike at the very life of photography.
The War Department has had unusual trou- ble with photographers during the past three years. The war with Spain of course accentu- ated the public interest in such things, and many a camera fiend has been worked overtime to supply the demand. As early as March i, 1897, the irritation had grown to such a pace that the Secretary of War published the follow- ing instructions, known as General Order No. 9, for the information and guidance of all con- cerned :
No persons, except officers of the Army and Navy of the United States, and persons in the service of the United Stales employed in direct connection with the use, con- struction or care of these works, will be allowed to visit any portion of the lake and coast defenses of the United
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States, without the written authority of the Command- ing OflBcer in charge.
Neither written nor pictorial descriptions of these works will be made for publication without the authority of the Secretary of War, nor will any information be given concerning them which is not contained in the printed reports and documents of the War Department.
Commanding Generals of Departments will see that this order is carried into effect, and that the permission to visit the defenses referred to is only given for proper military reasons.
Commanding OflBcers, Ordinance Sergeants and others in charge of fortifications, or any means of lake or coast defenses, will exercise great care in acting upon appli- cations to visit the works, and will grant such only as may be warranted for good and sufficient military reasons.
Commanding Generals of Departments concerned will give to this matter their continued personal attention to the end that any dereliction of the duty herein en- joined may be immediately observed and promptly met by discipline.
On August 24 of the same year the first par- agfraph of the above order was revised by the issuance of General Order No. 52, which sub- stituted the following:
Except by special authority of the Secretary of War, no persons, other than officers of the Army and Navy of the United States, and persons in the service of the United States employed in direct connection with the use, construction, or care for these works, will be allowed to visit any portion of the lake and coast defenses of the United States, without the written authority of the Com- manding Officer in charge, to be given only for proper military reasons.
Special authority to visit defensive works granted by the Secretary of War will be limited to United States Senators and Members of Congress, their public duties requiring them to take official action on matters con- nected therewith, and to the Governor (or his Adjutant General) of the State in which the works are located, as commander-in-chief of the local militia instructed there.
Officers in command of fortifications found it a difficult task to enforce the regulations, and yet, perhaps, in some cases they had a tender feeling for the camera devotee and were a lit- tle lax in that regard. Many an amateur en- riched his collection with views of picturesque old stone forts, and in some cases of the modern fortifications. No doubt copies of not a few of these views gradually worked their way into the secret archives of more than one foreign nation. However, in September of last year a circular was issued to the army which con- tained this paragraph:
It having come to the notice of the Secretary of War that the provisions of General Orders, No. 52, August 24, 1897, from this office, are frequently disregarded, he directs that attention be invited to the same and that a
rigid observance and enforcement of its provisions be hereaftei enjoined.
Within a few weeks several of the big New York dailies and illustrated weeklies contained glowing descriptions of important and essen- tially secret experiments then being conducted by the Government at Sandy Hook proving ground. The latter is situated on the long, bar- ren tongue of land that projects into New York harbor from the Jersey shore. These publica- tions resulted in another stringent order being issued by the War Department, and called General Order No. 164:
By direction of the Secretary of War, no written or pictorial description of tests by this Government of arms or munitions of war will be made for publication without the authoriiy of the Secretary of War, nor will any information, written or verbal, concerning them which is not contained in the printed reports and documents of the War Department, be given to any un- authorized person.
Except by special authority of the Secretary of War, no persons other than officers of the Army and Navy of the United States and members of Congress in their offi- cial capacity, and persons in the service of the United States employed in direct connection with such tests will be allowed to witness the same.
Inasmuch as this order seemed to be aimed specially at the proving ground, the officers there were on the qui vive to capture, dead or alive, every manipulator of the bulb found meandering over the Government reservation.
The other Sunday a civil officer on duty at the Hook descried a man with a neat case strapped onto his back and pushing a bicycle all over the place, taking a bird's-eye look at everything of interest. He accosted the stran- ger and asked what was in the case. The lat- rer intimated that it was none of his business, but on being accused of having a camera as much as admitted that it was. He explained that he had permission from the commanding officer of the Light Artillerj'- Batallion stationed at Fort Hancock to take views on the Hook. The official hurried back to his office and seiz- ing the telephone called up Fort Hancock. The commander of the Fort declared that he had given permission to no one to take views anywhere. This was too much for a strict dis- ciplinarian, and he rushed out excitedly to col- lar the camera fiend. The latter, however, was by this time a mile down the railroad track along the six-mile stretch to the main- land. How could he be overtaken ? The commanding officer of the day was hunted up and together they ran to the engine house
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where they found the engineer cleaning up the locomotive, and gained the information that it would take two hours to get up steam. Some other means must be quickly adopted. A bunch of men were hurriedly summoned and with the commanding officer they boarded a hand-car. Sandy Hook is well named, as the cycler soon found, as he was obliged to walk his wheel most of the time, and he could make but slow pro- gress over the yielding Sa- haran soil. Down the track the hand-car flew, the men straining every nerve to over- take the fiend The latter was patiently plodding his sandy way, totally oblivious of the oncoming Juggemautal car.
The miscreant was at last distanced and an investigation commenced forthwith. The board of examination found that the man was a member of the Artillery stationed at Fort Hancock ; that he was enjoy- ing a brief furlough by taking a short bicycle trip ; also that his camera consisted of a two- days' ration of biscuits.
V
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE EARLY HIS- TORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY/
The Internal History of Nicpceotype and Daguerreotype*
HAVING now traced the history of the labors of Ni6pce and Daguerre in reference to the various external events which marked the progress of their inventions, we may retrace our steps and endeavor to follow the develop- ment of the two processes by the light of the somewhat meagre information at disposal.
Ni6pce, it need not be said at the outset, was greatly Daguerre*s superior in point of knowl- edge. He had received a good education for
• CopyriRhled, looo, in the United Sutes by Thb Photographic TiMKS Publishing Auociation.
* Copyrighted in Great Britain by Tk* Photogram, Limited.
Gertrude K&sebier.
that period, so that his experiments have a cer- tain merit of continuity which those of his col- league, the record of which is of the scantiest, entirely lack. Thus on June i6, 1816, we find Ni6pce writing to his brother Claude thus :
'* I have read that an alcoholic solution of muriate of iron of a full yellow color becomes white in the sun, and takes again, in the shade, its natural color. I soaked paper in this solution and dried it : the part exposed to light became white whilst the unexposed remained yel- low. But as this solution attraofed too much moisture from the air I have no longer used it, as I chanced to come across a much better and simpler substance.
*' A piece of paper covered with oxide of iron and ex- posed to oxygenated muriatic acid gas becomes a beau- tiful yellow, and bleaches better and quicker than the foregoing."
Ni^pce, we see here, touched, in thus experi- menting with ferric chloride, the fringe of a
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field in which Sir John Herschel, some years later, discovered several processes. He also tried the effect of spreading manganese dioxide on paper, exposing to chlorine gas, thus produc- ing manganese chloride, which, so he states, when blackened slightly with the oxide became white in light. He also tried hydrogen, chlorine and carbon dioxide for fixing the image and modifying the action of light. He appears to have tried silver salts afterwards, but in 1817 (April 20) we find him writing :
** I believe I have told you. my dear friend, that I have given up the use of silver chloride and you know nay reasons. I was much perplexed to replace it, when I read in a chemical book that resin de guiac, which is yellowish gray in color, becomes a beautiful green when exposed to light and thereby acquires new properties : viz., it becomes less soluble in alcohol. I, therefore, made a strong solution of this resin and noticed that, when spread in a thin film on paper and exposed to light, it became a beautiful deep green in a short time, but that when a film as thin as was necessary for my purpose was used it did not exhibit the least difference in solu- bility towards alcohol; so that after many experiments I have become convinced of its unsuitability and have given it up."
On July 17, 1817, Ni6pce wrote:
'• I have just been analysing the gum resin of guiac, with the object of isolating that part of it sensitive to light. I have already found that the portion of the resin soluble in water does not possess this singular property and that the resin deprived of this portion is much more sensi- tive, and further, that this resin still contains a constitu- ent insoluble in both water and alcohol— a fact which enables roe to obtain the resin perfectly pure. If I find that, in this state, its combination with oxigen by the aid
LOUIS JACQUES MANDC DA6UCRRC.
of light renders it less soluble in alcohol, I shall have made a great step towards the solution of the problem."
No letters from J. N. Ni6pce to Claude, from 1817-1826, are preserved. In 1826, we find him writing to his son Isidore as follows :
•' My heliographic work is in full swing. I have just obtained some new pewter plates, a metal better suited to my purpose, especially for views of nature; as it re- flects more light, the image appears sharper.**
The plate of the portrait of the Cardinal d* Amboise, to which reference has been made* was made, according to Isidore Ni6pce,by Nic6- phore Niepce in the following manner. Isidore Ni6pce, in a letter to Fouque (March, 1867) says:
*• My father spread bitumen of Judaea, dissolved in Dippel's animal oil, on a plate of well-polished pewter. On this film of varnish he laid the drawing, oiled to ren- der it translucent, and exposed to light. Then he plunged the plate into a solvent which caused the gradual appearance of the image, afterwards etching in water more or less acidulated. My father sent this plate to M. Lemaitre asking him to etch it more deeply. Le- maitre did so, and many proofs were taken of this por- trait of Cardinal d* Amboise."
Isidore Ni6pce adds that he placed the original plate in the museum at Chalons, but Fouque states that the plate was not to be found there, but that he had seen it many times at Isidore Ni6pce's house at Givry.
Niepce was still busy with his engraving ex- periments in 1827, as an extract from his letter to Lemaitre of February 2d shows:
** I beg to send you five tin plates. The largest is the copy of an engraving representing the Virgin, the In-
JOSCPH NICCPHORC NICPCC.
• Photocrafhic Times, February, kjcx), p. 68.
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fant Jesus, and St. Joseph. The other four smaller ones are copies of a portrait and a landscape. These images, as you see, are not on varnish, but are very feebly en- graved with acetic acid as weak as wood vinegar: those representing the landscape are especially lightly en- graved. I believe I have succeeded fairly well in the case of the portrait. *'
When Ni^pce visited Paris in 1829, he naturally informed himself as completely as he could of Dagnierre's process. On this subject he writes to his son Isidore (September 2d and 4ih, 1827):
" The chemical compound used by M. Daguerre is a very fine powder which does not adhere to surfaces to which it is applied. 1*his powder on the least exposure to light becomes so luminous as to, in some measure, illuminate the interior of the camera. Its behavior seems to bear a resemblance, so far as I recollect, to that of sulphide of baryta or Bolognese stone, which like- wise retains certain luminous rays.'*
After his return from England, and after his brother's death, Niepce devoted himself again to his researches. In his letters to Lemaitre (August 28th and October 4th, 1829) he says:
'• I see, with satisfaction, that I am now reaching the end at which I have aimed. I have discontinued copy- ing engravings and am working direct from nature with one of Wollaston's perfected cameras. The i>erioscopic lenses give me much better results than those I have ob- tained with ordinary objectives or even with the meniscus lens of V. Chevalier. . . .
In 1829 (October 4th) he was using silver plates, sometimes blackening these instead of engraving them by acid, as has been previously described.
This brings us to Niepce *s classical Notice sur PHeliograpkie^ the document handed to Da- guerre on the formation of their partnership on December 14th, 1829. We translate it here with the notes appended by Daguerre in his His- toriquc et Description des Proced/s du Daguerreo- type et du Diorama. (Suisse Frferes, publishers, Paris, 1839).
"The discovery, which I have made and to which I give the name Hetiography^ consists in the reproduc- tion, spontaneously by the action of light, in gradations ranging from btack to white,* of the images produced by the camera obscura.
FUNDA.MENTAL PRINCIPLE OF THE DISCOVER V.
'• Light, in its states of composition and decomposition acts chemically on many substances; it is absorbed, it combines with them and gives them new properties. Thus it increases the viscosity of some bodies, even solidifying them, and makes them more or less insoluble,
according to the length and intensity of its action. Such is, in brief, the theory of the discovery.
The Material Used— Preparation.
•*The substance which I use and with which I have secured the best results is asphaltum or Bitumen of fudcea, prepared as follows :
**I half fill a glass with the powdered bitumen and pour over it, drop by drop, essential oil of lavender until the bitumen no longer absorbs it, and is thoroughly saturated with it, I add then enough of the essential oil to cover the mixture to the depth of about three lines, after which the whole must be covered up and left, at a gentle heat, until the essence is saturated with the color- ing matter of the bitumen . If this varnish is not then thick enough, I leave it to evaporate in the open air in a dish, protecting it from damp, which alters and finally decomposes it. This is particularly noticeable in the present cold wet weather.*
*' A small quantity of this varnish applied cold, with a tuft of very soft leather, to a highly polished silver plate gives thin and very uniform film of a bright red color.f The plate is next placed on a warm iron plate covered with a double thickness of paper (previously dried) and as soon as the varnish has lost all stickiness, the plate is removed to cool, and the diying finished, at a very mode- rate temperate, out of contact with moist air. I must not forget to observe that this precaution is very neces- sary. A light disc, to the center of which a short handle is attached, held to the mouth, is used to arrest and con- dense one's breath.
'*The plate, prepared in this way, can be at once exposed to the action of light ; but even after it has been exposed for a time long enough to allow the action to take place, no visible result is obtain- ed, t The impres- sion is latent, and in order to render it apparent, a sol- vent has to be used.
The Solvent- Method OF Prep- aration.
'• It is difficult to state the exact composition of the solvent as it must be altered according to the result which is desired. But, other things being equal, it is better to have it too weak than too strong. § I prefer to
THE CARDINAL D* AMSOISC.
A reproduction from an engraving made by Niepce in 1826.
* Note by M. Dasnierre : The purest light given by this process is not white.
* Note by M. Daguerre : This note was written in December. t Note by M. Daguerre: It is impossible, by such a method, to obtain a film so unilorm as to give in the camera the fineness which the modifica- tions of light require.
X Note by Daguerre— If the image were completely invisible there would be no result. A faint image is necessary is obtain a successful prinL
§ Note by Daguerre —Both these give rise to certain inconveniences. In the first, the image does not develop sufficiently; in the second, it is completely removed.
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use one part (volume, not weight) of essential oil of lavender to six parts of white petroleum oil. The mix- ture is milky at first but becomes perfectly clear at the end of two or three days. It can be used several times over, losing its solvent properties only when it becomes nearly saturated. When it becomes opaque and dark in color it can then be distilled and is made ready for use again.
" The varnished plate having been withdrawn from the camera obscura, a sufficient quantity of this solvent is poured into an iron dish, about an inch longer and wider than the plate, to completely cover the plate. The latter is then placed in the liquid, and by looking at it at a certain angle the image is seen to appear and to gfradually develop although still veiled by the oil above it which is more or less saturated with varnish. The plate is then removed and placed in a vertical position in order to let the solvent drain off. When it no longer escapes, the last operation — and by no means the least in importance — is proceeded with.
Washing.
**A very simple apparatus answers for this purpose, viz., a board four feet in length and a little wider than
the plate. This board is provided along its width with two strips projecting about two inches above its surface. It is fixed at its upper end by means of hinges by which it can be inclined as desired in order to give the water flowing over it the necessary speed. The lower end of the board tenninates in a vessel placed to receive the liquid which flows down.
**The plate is placed on this inclined board; it is pre- vented from sliding down by two small blocks which should not project above the plate. In cold weather tepid water should be used. The water is not poured directly on the plate, but above, so that descending in a stream it may remove the last traces of oil adhering to the varnish.
*• The print is thus developed with great distinct- ness, if the operation has been properly performed and especially if an improved camera obscura has been available.*
• Note by M. Daguerre : This, so far as M. Niepce was concerned, was hypothetical, and experiment has shown that the achromatic camera, whilst (giving greater purity of imagre, cannot brinf? about this great distinctness.
{To be continued.)
THK KND or A WINDY DAY."
Geo. IV. Norris^ M.D.
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AT-HOME PORTRAITURE.
BY EDGAR FELLOES.
This h the second of a series of articles on this sobjectt the first published In the April ntsmber of the Times f showing results similar to professkmal sttidio worfc. In this artlckt Mr* Felloes shows os how he obtains pictorial photographs under the same limited conditions* As regards Mr. Felloes' success In his '^ Home Portraiture,^ it may be of interest to know that Miss OT«lellU the actress and the subject of the pictures accompanying this article, refuses to be photographed by anyone but Mr. Felloes when visiting Portland, Oreg* Next o|onth the Editor will show briefly his method of obtaining portraits at home, and that article will be followed by one from Mr* E* Lee Ferguson, wlilch will again show the piciorUd possibilities. — Editor's Note.
JUDGING from the mass and quality of photo^aphic work in general, one is forced to believe that the facetious genius who christened photography an " art science " was guilty of a misnomer. It should have been named scientific art; the results in the main will prove this assertion. That this need not be most will admit, for the productions of a clever few show that the pho- tographic processes are amenable to very artis- tic results.
In these days of rapid plates, no amateur should entertain the idea that a regular photog- rapher's studio is necessary to successful work in portraiture or picture-making. For those who sigh for a "slant light" or glass roof, the writer has been requested to explain his method of working in a room. The results gotten by at-home portraiture have this to recommend it, it is not " the usual thing." The contemplation of this fact is in itself encouraging, for the usual thing is always tiresome, and some- times worse.
A glance at the diagram will give an idea of a room for photographic pur- poses. It is the one the writer uses.
There are four windows, shown by the numerals. Each window is covered with four curtains of white cotton goods arranged in two rows, the upper ex- tending to the center of the window, and the lower from that down. Inside these white curtains hang black ones, of the same length and width, that the light may be totally obscured when not needed. All the curtains run easily on brass rods. Theblack curtains being placed distinct from the white ones, having their own rods to travel on.
There are two examples of lighting shown. The straight lighting, with a reflector and one window; also the cross-light, in which two windows are used without the aid of a re-
flector. Both are good and give different results.
A head screen, a chair, and two backgrounds are all an amateur need start with in the way of accessories. Let your backgrounds be plain, that is, not shaded. If a little clouding is re- quired in your picture, reduce the negative with Farmer's reducer (red prussiate of potash and hyposulphite of soda). Do this immediately after the fixing or before the negative is dry. The reducer will work quicker thereby. This will necessarily give dark clouds in your print. For light ones, use ground glass varnish on the back of your negatives, with an application of black chalk where required. The advantage of this method over a shaded ground, lies in it being easier to suit it to your figure and a deadly sameness is avoided in the neg- atives.
The reader will notice by reference to the diagrams that the backgrounds are placed at varying angles. This is not a freak or accident,
npl
X.— Position of subject.
C. — Camera.
B. — Background.
R.— Reflector.
Fig. I. Windows 2, 3, 4, have the dark curtains drawn. Arrows show direction of light.
Fig. J. Waved arrow shows subdued light. Win- dows I and 3 darkened, 2 and 4 ctirtains partly drawn.
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NANCC O'NEILL.
Edgar Felloes,
Taken according to Figure 2.
the tone of the j^round with the figure is a matter of utmost importance. The writer's method is to place the background squarely be- hind the subject. The pose and lighting is next decided on, then the ground should be turned to or from the source of light till the whole har- monizes. Judge the effect on your ground glass. It is necessary that the background repeats some of the values or tones in the model, this will avoid " the cut out," the brutal isolation of the figure so often seen in photo- graphs.
What a boon it would be to the amateur pho- tographer if instead of indulging in endless dis- cussion as to the merits of developers, he would
put two- thirds of that energy in studying light- ing. Rest assured of this, if your lighting is wrong you cannot expect a work of art by adding bromide to your developer. And those who fret themselves about a precedent should re- member, the more rules they bow to, the smaller they become. Learn to do it your own way. The writer has met a class of photographers who are terribly in earnest. They bristle with formulas, minim glasses, drop tubes and all kinds of ** omiters." Now all this may be very scientific and awe-inspiring to the tyro. But is it not energy wasted at the wrong end of the scale ? Too much science ; not enough art and sentiment. The concrete in ideas is useful.
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NANCK O'NEILL.
Edgar Felloes.
Taken according^ to Figure x.
but the abstract inspires success. It is very strange that some photographers, and good ones, too, are so dreadfully anxious to copy something or somebody. To pose a model be- cause some artist has done it in that way, and imitate his work is ridiculous. Even if the photographer is successful, he has made a mis- take, because he is advertising the other man, whereas his effort should be to bring himself into prominence. Avoid trickiness in your pho- tography. In art simplicity is the shadow of greatness. On entering your dark-room don't think of a recent success, remember your last failure. When you have made a negative you think good, don't take it to a professional for pointers ; for the beautiful negative of yester- day is the bad one of to-day. Better make a print and show it to a friend of taste and culture.
RUBBING DOWN NEGATIVES*
The use of precipitated chalk in addition to methylated spirit where great reduction is wanted, effects a great saving of time, and is quite safe if used with care. My own method is to moisten a piece of soft rag with the spirit, then dip into the chalk, rub on a spoilt negative to be sure there is no grit present; then rub the one under operation, taking care not to rub until dry, and turning the rag as it becomes blackened. It is surprising what can be done with a nega- tive suffering from halation, or a dense sky in which there ought to be clouds. After a short time they will make their appearance, and if not quite suitable to the composition of the landscape they can be altered both in density and shape. W. Yi,— Amateur Photo- grapher.
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SUGGESTIONS ON PICTORIAL COM- POSITION.
BY J. A. GALLAGHER.
HE object or purpose of light and shade is to givQ a pleasing general effect to the whole picture. Di- viding the space into masses of light and shade gives breadth of effect, and also prevents the confu- sion which would attend if the eye were attracted by numerous parts of equal importance at the same time; and also to place before the spectator the principal object or truth, so that the eye will see it immediately, and then gradually, or we might say unknowingly, lead to examine the whole.
The knowing how to mass light and shade, with its intermediate gradation connecting all, can only be learned by careful observation and study. The principal results produced by chiaro-oscuro are relief, harmony, and breadth; it is, therefore, almost needless to say that, in- telligently used, it is a perfect and essential agent in the sphere of art-pictorial. We have but to turn to some of the pictures by Rem- brandt to see this exemplified; many are held to be ill-drawn, but are so **cloathed'* with light and shade as lo put them on a plane that has not been surpassed.
Between black and white, there are infinite variety of tone gradations; at this time we will refer to but five of them, viz , light, half light, middle tint, half dark, and dark.
When a picture is com- posed of -light and half light, the effect will be weak. In photographing distances, it is quite neces- sary to introduce a dark object in the foreground; the strong color is to give a sense of solidity.
When composed of dark and half dark, the light will naturally appear the more brilliant, but will look spotty for want of a half light to spread and connect them. Rembrandt's pic- tures are composed most of half dark and dark^ having a focus of brilliant light united to the darks by a half tone. Relief enables us to give the directness and solidity of nature. We find it carried to a light degree in the works of Veronese and Tintoret, and also in some of the large works of Titian and Corregio.
In photography, a certain amount of relief is of advantage, but to strive too much for it would sacrifice that which we consider of greater importance — breadth. Relief is not the object of a picture; Mr. Ruskin on this particular wrote that the solidity or projection is the sign and evidence of the vilest and lowest mech- anism, which art can be insulted by giving name to.
Harmony, or union of different parts of a composition, depends upon the intermediate parts serving as a chain. Unity of effect in light and shade, is just as important as the unity in composition. Breadth of effect is only to be produced by a great extent of light and shade pervading the picture; without this breadth it will never give a sense of pleasure. Light and shade which is scattered or inter- rupted, keeps the eye in a constant state of irritation and therefore distracts from the principal object. If light be collected by means of a lens and thrown obliquely upon a wall it will explain to us one of its principal properties. When bundles of rays are collected, the light is increased in brightness; when they become more diffused and spread, it becomes weak; and we have therefore a great variety of gradations until the light is finally lost. Noticing light
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//. A. Bfosley.
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falling on a globe, we will find that one spot is more brilliant than any other part, therefore all light should have a focus, and all light should be treated as a whole and subordinated to the principal light ; likewise one part should be of a dark more decided than the rest If the two extremes are brought together, they assist each, other; one appearing more light the other more dark; this through effect of contrast.
When a light object of a composition is placed on the dark side, and the dark on the light side, firmness is produced.
If figures are so placed that they throw long shadows it gives a greater appearance of sunshine. This principle is most excel- lently illustrated by " On the Boulevard," and ** Along the Seine," which can be* found in the Photographic Tunes Annual for jgoo,
A shadow carried through the middle of a picture, leaving the foreground and distance well lighted, gives an excellent opportunity for breadth of effect.
What we have said on light and shade, and kindred topics, are simply suggestions, and they will not fail in their purpose, if they but serve as an incentive to a true and earnest study (by those who perchance have read them) of those things that have to do with pic- torial photography.
A //red irernrr.
MR. BUTTOrrS GRANDE SHEDOOVER.
BY D. H. TALMADGE.
NE day a commercial salesman who, in com- mon with a number of other people, is an en- thusiastic devotee of the photographic art, came to Shutterville to sell drugs. He was a shrewd man, this commercial salesman, for he studied the foibles and the en- thusiasms of his cus- tomers, and approached them by this door, rather than by the direct man- ner of some followers of his avocation. He found it profitable, as well as pleasant, to do so. He was always glad when he came to Shut- terville, principally because of Mr. Button, who kept the largest drug store in the place. Mr. Button was a genial, whole-souled sort of a chap, albeit somewhat quick tempered, and such a persevering, ardent student of photography, that to sell him goods was the simplest matter in the world. Each succeeding trip for many months had marked some new triumph in Mr. Button's career as a taker, developer and printer, and it had come to be the commercial salesman's invariable custom to inquire as to this progress, even before grasping the hand of Mr. Button and asking him in regard to his health.
He was somewhat surprised and shocked therefore on this occasion, when he opened the front door of the Button drug store and uttered the usual query, to observe a pained expression upon Mr. Button's face and to note an absence —a complete absence -of the light which had been wont to emanate from Mr. Button's eyes. Furthermore, Mr. Button's voice was gruff and his manner was chilling.
** Don't mention it," said he, ** Fveswoni off." " What — photography ?" " Exactly."
The commercial salesman was compelled to lean against the cigar case for support, and for a time he was unable to gather his wits suffi- ciently to enable him to utter definite words.
"You are surprised, I see," said Mr. Button, his features relaxing momentarily into a grim smile. "Confound you, sir! You were the cause of it all."
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plate. It didn't seem to be coming out pre- cisely as he had hoped. He put it into the dish again, and swushed it around a long time. Then he lifted it, and turned on the electric light. The company held their breaths. And, sir, by George ! — O, I — ha-ha- ha— "
** Well ?" said the commercial salesman.
" Well, he looked at it for a full minute, and the company looked at it for the same length of time He seemed paralyzed. Then he dashed it to the floor, and stepped on it. Ground it under his heel. Danced on it. Seemed for the instant oblivious of the company's presence. '* Maria," he snorted, ** did you touch my camera last night?" ** Yes," said Mrs. Button; "you
left it on the window-sill, and I was afraid it would fall out, so I put it, and the clock that was tied to it, on the table. The clock didn't seem to like it either," she added with a small laugh, ** for shortly after I moved it it whized. *' Gee-whizz !" said Button. And that wasn't the worst thing he said either. It's a pity he has such a quick temper. And the company tittered and giggled like schoolgirls. Couldn't help it. O, it was rich — rich — ha-ha-ha !"
" But what was it ?"
"Why, it was Mrs. Button. 1 — I — er — believe she took a bath that evening by electric light, l_er~0— ha-ha-ha ! "
**0!" said the commercial salesman. And then he joined in roaringly.
W.J. Muliins.
A PLEA FOR THE ARTISTIC IN PHOTOGRAPHY*
BY WALTER E. BERTLING.
IN these days of artistic photography one becomes more and more impressed with the fact that some kind of an art experi- ence or art temperament is absolutely essential to enable one to produce good results in photography. " Good results " is a term certainly synonymous with "artistic re- sults." The reason is plain. A picture may be technically good, printed from an excellent negative and all detail faithfully produced and conscientiously worked out, yet withal may be found painfully uninteresting. Why ? Simply because the composition is uninteresting, badly chosen, lacks the artistic.
The man back of the camera must be ed- ucated to a certain standard before his instru- aent will yield good results. It is being more and jr)re generally recognized that the individuality arohotography is becoming almost unlimited.
The camera is not so much a mere mechanical contrivance as most people choose to imagine, and as the artistic perspective increases, the few limitations become gradually less apparent.
I should recommend devoting a summer to out-door sketching before taking up the camera. Ramble out into the woods and fields whenever opportunity affords and endeavor to secure whatever little artistic bits you may find. You will be surprised to find how critical you be- come, how much your judgment is exercised, and how your faculty of selection is developed.
You will wander around a long time before the view presents itself that wholly appeals to you. When making a sketch you are necessarily longer employed at a given subject than when photographing it. You unconsciously study the subject more and instinctively take note of the ever changing conditions of light and shade. This develops judgment and enables you to select the proper time for photographing a sub- ject.
It is just this experience that is so much
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needed in camera work. One should be able to produce a good result from every plate exposed or else the work has been faulty.
Too many of our photographers have gained a reputation through chance. They expose hundreds of negatives, and as a matter of course — having, perhaps, time and money plenty — secure a limited number of fair things. This is a poor spirit to work in. The public sees only their successes, and not the hundreds of failures and great quantities of broken glass in the ash barrel.
A photographer should be able to appreciate an artistic bit of composition, able to judge the correct exposure and be fully assured of a good result at time of exposure, without being obliged to make half a dozen attempts at it.
It will also be found that some experience in color work will be vastly beneficial to the pho-
tographic aspirant. Every picture, no matter what medium employed in producing it, has a distinct color value. Note the many contrasty photographs we see, all with exaggerated high lights and deep shadows, and without detail in either. Such pictures have no color value
Compare these with a good water color and note the artistic and correct appreciation of contrasts. The artist does not smear a com- pact mass of opaque blue into his shadows, neither does he make the high lights so blind- ing as to cause one to wink. On the contrary, the gradations of tone are harmoniously blended, and whatever contrasts exist are just sufficient to give snap to the picture.
If photographers have but a good art appre- ciation their success is assured; they will pro- duce pictures that are evenly lit, well selected, artistic, and full of individuality.
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A WASHING BOX.
BY HKNRY C. DELEKY.
TO thoroughly eliminate the last traces of chemicals from negatives and prints has been a subject of much concern to the conscientious pho- tographer. Their number is legion, who produce a piece of work of beautiful light- ing and posing, of faultless artistic composition and perfect technique, but of a permanency which might be seriously questioned.
The first natural inference is to blame the plates and paper. Regarding the plates there is very little excuse; the worst being quite relia- ble; but the same cannot be said of the numer- ous brands of paper which now flood the market, whose unpronounceable, unmanageable and unspellable names would put to shame the vocabulary of a Volapuk dictionary, and whose most appropriate place is in the ash barrel; yet there are some, which if properly treated have quite lasting qualities. A careful
inquiry into the subject will reveal the fact that in the majority of cases, the deterioration of the negatives and fading of prints can be attributed to imperfect washing.
The object of this little sketch is to suggest a simple and effective manner of removing these necessary, and at the same time obnoxious chemicals. Hyposulphite of soda is usually the most troublesome one to expel. It is sometimes suggested to employ another agent to neutralize it, and thereby destroy its bad effect, but then it becomes again necessary to remove these agents. Why not use a surer method, one which is recognized as being efficient when properly done, that of employing a plain bath of running water.
The box herein illustrated is very simple and of easy construction, and can be put together by anyone who has an ordinary knowledge of the use of tools; so designed as to offer but little chance of getting out of order, and one which is not an experiment, but has been thoroughly tested.
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Briefly described, it consists of a rectangular box divided into a separate compartments to re- ceive the negatives and prints, and also admits of a free circulation of water. A glance at the plan, Fig. i, will facilitate explanations. The compartment A extends the full length of the box, and is intended to receive the fresh supply of water, and distribute it to the other tanks, B, B-B, and C. The tanks, B, B-B, are for negatives (of course as many can be made as necessity demands), and should be an inch larger all around than the size of the largest negative to be used; for instance, a 6j4x8>4 negative should have a compartment 7>4 inches wide and 9^ inches deep, and all compartments made about 6 inches long. The other tank C is for prints, and can be made as long as desired.
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At one end of compartment A at the bottom (Fig. 2.) is shown a faucet to be used for empty- ing the box for cleansing purposes. In the figure is also shown the small trough which conveys water to waste pipe.
And now a word or two regarding the construc- tion. The wood should be thoroughly seasoned and clear white pine or cypress. The sides and bottom to be in one piece about i^ inch thick. The ends should be rabbeted as shown in Fig. 4, and thoroughly coated with white lead im- mediately before putting together. The joints should be nailed and cross nailed, as indicated, and a small quarter- round moulding, also coated with white lead, fitted in comers to make a water- tight job. The four sides of the box being com- pleted, the bottom is then screwed on in same manner, and partitions set in place. The small overflow gutter which carries the waste is formed of a strip of wood seventh-eight inch thick rabbeted into side of box, and with a slight fall. The end is connected to waste pipe.
To immerse the plates into tanks a brass or copper wire crib is made as i llustrated in Fig. 5 . A rectangular base is shaped, slightly smaller than the tank, and on this is twisted the wire form- ing a triangular frame, held togetheit at the top by another wire. These frames are placed about three-fourths inch apart, each space to receive one negative.
A most prominent feature of this washing
Fig. 3 shows the manner in which the box is operated. A spigot or hose supplies water into compartment A, which distributes same into the different tanks by small holes bored through the bottom of the partition, two to each tank. The water after entering same and passing through the tanks, escapes by another outlet at the top into a little trough made to carr}' it through the waste pipe. The dotted lines and arrow head indicate the course of the water.
*lHl==siNI=tM^
END 51 DE
WIPTE CKIB - FIGl Y
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box is the thorough isolation of a negative in one compartment from that in another, thereby preventing a negative from which the chemicals have been nearly all extricated from coming in contact with one fresh from the hypo bath; also permitting several persons to use the box at one time, keeping their negatives separate, and not interfering with each other's work; a fact which can better be appreciated, as in the use of a club, where many members are working to- gether.
HOW TO KEEP SODIUM SULPHITE.
BY C. E. MAXWELL.
THE accompanying cut is self-explana- tory. Make a saturated solution from fresh crystals of sodium sulphite, and pour it into a nasal douche bottle. Pour on top of the solution a tablespoonful of sweet oil. Tables, which you will find in any in- struction book or annual will give you the num- ber of grains in each ounce of this solution. For use with Argo, and similar bromide papers or plates, a quick and fresh developer can be made by drawing half ounce of this solution in a graduate, filling to the four ounce mark with water, adding a heaping mustard spoonful of amidol and a few drops of a lo per cent solu- tion of bromide of potash. For plates add two ounces more water and fifteen drops of bromide solution.
This solution of sulphite wull keep fresh in- definitely.
WATERPROOF LABELS.
FRANCIS BARKLIE.
Having had much trouble in preparing and applying the waterproof writing fluids often described as suitable for bottle inscriptions, the writer, after some experimenting, succeeded in producing by following simple process, a label which in his experience has proven eminently satisfactory.
A good quality of bond paper rather thin in texture — such as is now commonly used with the typewriter — is taken for the label, and the desired inscription made upon it with ordinary ink. When dry this is pasted upon the bottle, and then covered with a coat of ordinary shellac, applying with a soft camel-hair brush, and allowing the shellac to extend a quarter of an inch beyond the edge of the label.
It only remains to apply a number of such coats, allowing each to become dry, and a label, neat, brilliant and durable will be the result.
IJ^NTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGINNERS.
BY *• PRIMROSE HILL."
VII.— CONTACT PRINTING FROM LARGE NEGATIVES.
Hitherto we have limited our experiments in contact printing- to a 4 x 5 negative and ordinary lantern plate. This is very simple because the negative and plate are the same width, so that both their edges find safe support in an ordin- ary quarter- plate pressure frame. But suppose that we wish to take a contact print from some portion of a larger plate, say a. S'^7 or 6yixS}4 plate by way of example. If, now, we placed a lantern plate 3J4 inches square in the middle of sl6}4 xSj4 negative, and used an ordinary print- ing frame in the usual way, we should almost surely commence by smashing our whole-plate negative in the act of closing the springs of the frame. Our first practical conclusion, there- fore, is that we must not attempt to use an ordinary pressure frame for any negative larger than a 4 X 5 negative. Our next practical point is that we must support the large negative in some way, so as to enable it to bear strong pressure at a small part of its surface. This "we can most easily and conveniently do by calling to our aid one of the older forms of printing* frames. These are called "box" printing
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/=*. T. A^scht^
Philadelphia Salon, i8gg.
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Lantern Slide Making
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frames. They are still made and sold by the dealers, but can often be bought at dealers in second-hand photo apparatus at less than half new price. Essentially, they consist of a frame very much like a picture frame, of narrow and deep form. In this is a stout piece of plate glass, which may be anything between one-eighth and one-half inch in thickness. On this supporting glass is laid our negative, then the lantern plate, then a piece of thin black cloth or velvet, and then a hinged back. Frames of this kind are usually supplied with springs of a much stronger character than those of the ordinary frames. Now in buying such a frame two points must be noted, viz., to see that the front glass is quite flat, and that it fits its rabbet or ledge evenly. To test these points the frame is laid face down and back removed. Then we can, by touching opposite comers of the thick glass, see or feel if there is any rocking — both pairs of opposite comers are tried. Then the glass is lifted out and turned, not over, but half way round, replaced, and again tested. A frame passing these easily made tests may be ac- cepted.
And now a hint or two about using frames of this kind. A moment's thought will show us
that if we put a lantern plate in contact, say, with one comer of a whole plate, and then in- sert the back, that we shall not get even pres- sure, and may in consequence easily mark, if not break, our negative. Fortunately, we can readily get over this difficulty in a very simple and safe way. First we need two or three pieces of cardboard, of size about an inch less all the way round than our negative — thus for a 6>^ X 8^ uur cards may conveniently be 7 J4 x 5^. These cards should be as nearly as possi- ble the same thickness as the glass of our lantern plates.
Now take an old 6yi x 8>^ negative, A B C D, lay on it your card E F D G, so that their cor- ners coincide at D. Then with pencil and foot- rule ascertain the center of the negative, O, and correspond point in the card by joining the middle points of opposite sides of the negative. Then lay a lantern plate over this so that its center exactly coincides with that of the nega- tive. Now run the point of a fine pencil round this slide. Then with sharp knife cut along this line. The hole, if neatly cut, should be a good but easy fit for a lantern plate. Then at opposite sides of this hole cut out two curved bits— half-moon shape. The object of these is
R, Diihrkoo^.
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Lantern Slide Making
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to enable us to slip a finger-nail under the edge of the lantern plate, and lift it up from the negative without scratching the latter. If. now, we hold up together our card and negative, and shift and turn the card about — but always keeping its four edges within those of the neg- ative—we shall find .that this gives us a considerable range, as shown by dotted line, n n n n, in Fig. 2. Having then pencilled on the old negative the range of position which our first card gives us, we take a second card and cut a 3^ square hole, as before. By this time the hole is nearer the comer E of the card (see Fig. i). Its edges may perhaps be each within about one-quarter inch from, and parallel to, E G and E F. These matters of course depend on the size of the negative. Thus for 5x7 size we shall find two cards can be made to meet all our needs. For 6>^ X 8>4 three wull be found more convenient.
Before quitting this subject, two or three small matters call for a word of caution. The front sheet of plate glass should be carefully cleaned. In any case, it will stop some light. If slightly yellow, as old glass often is, this pale tint will prolong the ex- ^ ..^ ^ posure. Again, care must be taken to dust the inside of theframe and surfaces of front glass and negative. A grain of sand between the plate and negative is quite enough to cause fracture of the negative. Then again, a little reasonable care must be used in laying down a lantern plate on a negative film. We must remember that the lantern plate has sharp edges and corners. Also in lifting it up after exposure, it is easy to damage the neg-
W. T. MuUins.
ative, either with the finger-nail or the edges or comers of the lantern plate.
It will be useful to hold up to the light the negative and card together, and move the lat- ter about — using it as a frame — until quite the best position is found.
It may be mentioned that the two diagrams are drawn to scale, so that the reader may readily compare the size of an ordinary lantern (3^ inches square) with a 6j/^ xS^i negative.
Fig. I.
Fk;,
PRINT CRITICISIVI
Beginning with the June issue one picture will be published each month accompanied by criticisms from Mrs Kasebier, Mr. Stieglitz, and^^other well-known photographers.
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Oar Competitions
[May
OUR COMPETITIONS*
ITUDY OF A C H XL D.—
While the re- sults as regards number of en- tries for this competition were very satis- factory, the pictures sub- mitted were of but mediocre value. Good points were heavily over- balanced by bad A midoi. ones. Crude posing, lacking that easy grace so essential to successful children's pictures, bad trimming and careless mounting were all too evident. Owing to lack of particular merit in the pictures the judges have recommended the withholding of the silver medal, and the awarding of first and second bronze medals, which they decided should go to
G* N. Allen (Miss Annie Pilsbury, Boston,
Mass*) First Bronze MedaU ^^Nahats'^ (Mrs* Helen P. Gatch^Salem,
Oreg«) Second Bronze Medal.
The next picture in order of merit being that of
''Bromide^ (Mrs* Myra Albert Wig- ginst Salem, Oreg«)
Others whose pictures showed merit but not of medal order were
Mrs« Charles S« Hayden, Baltimore, Md.
Walter Blackburn, Yonkers, N* Y.
Miss Agnes B« Warburg, London, Eng*, and
Mrs* A. £• Boughner, Sedalia, Mo«
Mr. Blackburn submitted a series of fifteen pictures, the technique of which was excellent, but there was too much hardness, too much posing. They were humorous and clever, but after all, mere records. Mrs. Wiggins' picture, produced herewith would undoubtedly have taken higher rank, but for the too pronounced sleeve
which overbalanced the whole and spoilt an otherwise good picture. This was prob- ably the result of using a lens of too short a focus.
Miss Pilsbury's picture was well finished and kept in a pleasant low key, but Ihe position of the head is hardly a good one for a child's pic- ture. Mrs. Gatch's picture suffered most from poor trimming. At least an inch should have been taken off the top of the print, and the un- drapingof the right shoulder was not artistically effected. We have shown this picture here in an oval, which improves it at least fifty per cent.
As we believe that all those whose names we have given above can do better work than that submitted,. w^e invite them to again try for the Silver Medal, and will set June ist as the date by which entries must be made. It is under- stood that only those whose names are here given can compete, and the subject, of course, is "A Study of a Child."— The Editor
•TUOV OP A CHILD.
Mrs. Helen P. Gatck.
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STUDY OF A CHILD.
Annie Pilsbury.
First Bronze Medal.
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Our Competitions
[May
•TUOV or A CHILD.
Mrs. A. E. Ihughner.
WE invite entries to the following com- petitions: III. Still life study.
I. Silver medal. II. Bronze medal. Entries must be received by May ist« 1900.
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES AND DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO*
In association offer
FIVE PRIZES
\fX Prizes $100 Cash and the Photographic Times Silver MedaL
2d Prizes $50 Cash and the Photographic Times Bronze MedaL
3rd Prize: $25 Cash and the Photographic Times Bronze MedaL
4th Prize: The Photographic Times Silver MedaL
5th Prize: The Photographic Times Bronze MedaL
For a Series of Photographs illustrating any one of the books mentioned below :
I. THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDI-
ANA. By Booth Tarkington.
II. BOB, SON OF BATTLE. By Alfred
Olivant.
III. BLIX. By Frank Norris.
All entries must be in by September ist, 1900. Full particulars are to be found in the Photographic Times for March.
DENSITY IN ^SNAP-SHOT '^ NEGATIVES-
TO workers who may have a difficulty in getting density in their snap-shots, the use is to be recommended of a few drops of a ten per cent, solution of sodium citrate added to the developer. It is a very convenient and powerful restraining solu- tion, and one which should have a place on every serious worker's shelf. A few drops will arrest development, which will then only go on at a very slow rate, growing in density, while the shadows remain clear.
•TUOY OF A CHILD.
Mrs. C. S. Hayden.
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Wilson's Photosfraphic Masfazine — ^March«
The frontispiece is a very beautiful study of a child by Boye & Habemicht. The symposium on " Old vs. New Methods " is continued and grows more interesting; a long letter from Clayton Stone Harris of Philadelphia, being especially readable. A. G. Marshall writes on *' Some of the Needs of the Hour," and John Tennant on " The Pose in Portraiture.** An instructive arti- cle is also culled from Photographic Scraps^ called ** Large Heads Direct," which we repro- duce in part.
Large Headt Direct.
A studio is not at all indispensable; very excellent work can be done in a fairly lighted sitting-room, the chief difficulty being to obtain the use of a room suffi- ciently long to permit of the use of the long-focus lenses, which I hold to be of the greatest necessity to attain to success. I have produced some very satisfactory results in an ordinary room which hss three windows, and is much longer than broad. Placing the model in the best- lit comer, I stand the camera in that comer near the windows which gives me the longest diagonal of the room, some six to seven yards apart, and arranging mat- ters so as not to obstruct the door I can then leave the camera safe in its corner whilst I pose the model. The room described is a drawing-room; by hoisting the blinds up to the top and just drawing the lace curtains over the three windows I can get a very equal lighting, when the sun is not on that side of the house. The dis- tance I have named of some six or seven yards between camera and model enables me to use very long-focus lenses, up to eighteen inches, which will give a good- sized head at that distance, and allows of going nearer to obtain very large heads. The use of long-focus lens be- comes absolutely necessary if we seek to obtain uni- formity of definition together with absence of distortion. At a g^ven distance, and with a given lens, at only a few feet from the model, it will be found difficult and some- times impossible to obtain anything approaching equal- ity in definition, and the effects of exaggeration of prominent parts will be fatal to success. When attempt- ing to lake a large head in a cramped space with a short- focus lens, as fast as we can get one feature in good focus another goes out of focus, and no compromise is possible except to produce a fuzzy negative which is sharp nowhere.
Again, long-focus lenses, at several yards' distance from the model, will permit the use of larger apertures.
in relation to focal length, than are possible with short focus lenses, which must be stopped to such a degree that the exposure is seriously prolonged: in other words, the short -focus lens at close quarters will not work with a large aperture and give good definition.
If for no other reason short-focus lenses must be con- demned for this purpose because of the inevitable dis- tortion or exaggeration, of which a few trials will con- vince. The slightest movement of the head, or the least alteration in the angle (relative to the axis of the lens), throws everything into confusion I have noticed that the act of breathing throws parts of the head intp and out of focus at each respiration.
Before commencing to take large heads direct several things have to be arranged. Backgrounds will be re- quired, and a number should be made of different tones or colors, to suit varying complexions or types of
STUDY OP A CHILD.
Myra Albert Wigfiin^.
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PANORAMA or THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS.
Copyright iSqs, by A. H. H^'aite.
features, and to obtain any desired elTect as regards principal lighting and relief. Sheets of strawboard. of large size, and each with a hole punched in corners to hang up on nails behind the head, will act satisfactorily. They may be coated with distemper of any shade or color from black to white, and probably half a dozen such backgrounds will meet all requirements.
You must e.xpose fully for heads. If you want to ob- tain the greatest softness, with delicate gradation in the flesh, you must avoid having to push development. Long development or forcing will most certainly pro- duce harshness, excessive density on all prominent parts of features, and too much contrast, and the hair will al- ways be darker in the finished print than it ought to be. It is really best to over-expose and control development. The result may be flat unless you take care; but a flat negative will give the retoucher something to do, and high lights can always be introduced in retouching. By giving full exposures such blemishes as freckles are re- duced in their assertiveness, but under-exposure will bring them out with unwonted strength. Full exposure and a developer weak in pyro are conditions favorable to success.
When posing the head, study the effect of raising or lowering the camera from a central horizontal line, which may be considered the nose. Some types are best suited by bringing the head vertical and making
the axis of the lens in a line with the nose. Others, again, are best when the head is slightly inclined to- ward one side; and you have to find out which will be the best angle for the camera. There are certain for- mations of heads where it wonld be undesirable to give great force to high cheek bones, just as it is advisable to diminish the appearance of double or triple chins if the model is " inclined " to embonpoint !
Study the exact amount of profile necessary to secure the very best effect for the particular head under treat- ment, especially as regards the showing of any part whatever of the off side of the face. Some heads must be taken in profile only, as high cheek bones or fleshy cheeks mar the effect of an otherwise perfect profile. The deviation of an angle of a quarter of an inch will spoil the effect. I have seen this change happen be- tween focusing and exposure, the model having moved slightly. The head-rest may be used under many cir- cumstances, and in some cases is necessary, but as a rule the pose is more natural when it is absent.
The dimensions of the head on a given plate should always allow plenty of margin to trim the print to the most effective size. If the head is to be vignetted, plenty of room will be required. On a lox 12 plate, if the head is six inches long that will be ample, but re- gard must also be had to the fact that female profiles frequently come out as broad as long, by reason of the
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Co/'y right iSfyj, by A. H. Waite.
elaborate dressing of the back hair, and you must then be guided by the width rather than by the length of the head.
In all cases top light must be avoided. In a room this difficulty is rarely encountered; in a studio it frequently is; and in the open air it always is, and therefore, in at- tempting heads in the open air, care must be taken to reduce the top light by a screen or roof. I must add that I succeed better in sitting-room than I ever did in the open air; the light does not vary so much, and is more under control.
The taking of large heads will be found a pleasant, interesting, and profitable line, and therefore suitable to amateurs and professionals alike, and the use of a long-focus lens will improve the results.
The Amateur Photos:rapher« — ^Ensfland^ Feb« 23. Some excellent illustrations, by W. E. Inston, grace this number. W. J. Warren's article on " Carbon Printing " gives many valuable ideas to workers in that beautiful medium.
Some Practical Hints on Carbon Printing, by W* J. W^arren*
One the first points in connection with carbon print- ing is the character of the negative most suitable. A popular belief that it was necessary to have a strong,
plucky negative for the purpose, like all half truths, is the most insidious and the most difficult to combat. It is perfectly true that to use the commercially sensitized tissue which is sold in such admirable condition by Messrs. Elliott & Son or by the Autotype Co.. one must have a negative of pronounced contrasts, and it is furthermore a distinct temptation to use such sensitized tissue. But by varying the strength of the bichromate sensitizing solution— by increasing its strength to en- courage flatness, as in the case of a too strong negative, and by decreasing it in the case of a too flat negative, so as to obtain contrast, a good carbon print from every negative is obtained without difficulty.
There is far more latitude in exposure than is popularly believed. For instance, a print which has only received say three-fifths its normal exposure, may by the con- tinuing action of light be encouraged to proceed at least one-fifth further if development be postponed for twenty- four hours, and by using water in development be- low the normal 105 deg. , and by exercising care, a satis- factory print will result. So, too, if a print be over- exposed, it must be developed without delay, hotter water must be used— it is wonderful how hot the ex- posed tissue will stand ; and as a final resourse, an acid- ified five per cent solution of ammonium persulphate may be applied for half an hour, and then development carried further forward in the usual way. The old
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dodge was to apply a weak ammonia solution, but this always rotted the film, and the persulphate is better and safer.
And now as to the continuing action of light. A sim- ple experiment of exposing one piece of tissue under one negative, masking one-half in four-fifths of the normal time of exposure, and allowing the other to proceed for the normal, but at the same time arranging that the four-fifths piece has an opportunity of exercising its con- tinuing action for some twelve hours before the other is completely printed, w^ill tell us an interestinf( tale. If the print be then squeegeed in the usual way and de- veloped, it will be found that the four-fifths portion has proceeded to maturity, but that it is totally different in character to the normally exposed part. It is less crisp, flatter in tones, and we are convinced that the continu- ing action is also a spreading one, and if we profit by the lesson we shall know how to get either of these effects.
The action of light of different intensities too, has a great power on the character of the resulting print. In the first place it would seem that three times the exposure with light one-third the standard power is. so far as oower goes, not equal to one-third with the standard power light, but di.stinctly less The image too, differs in these cases. In any case it is a wise precaution to store sensitive tissue either before or after exposure; in the latter case, of course, if the continuing action is not to be encouraged, in a calcium box. but it should be a flat one.
Workers must not fail to remember the different sup- ports upon which the carbon image may be placed. Of course, any sample of paper whatever is possible, from Bristol board to the roughest water-color variety, and furthermore, ivory, celluloid, or its cousin xylonite, metal, or canvas, are quite within range. These may easily be prepared by any one of us, the tip being to do a fairly large quantity at once, so as to use all the gela- tinizing solution at one turn.
For paper the following is suggested:
Hdnrich's gelatine i6o grains
Water.. 30 ounces
Soak and melt by gentle heat. Then add drop by drop, with constant stirring:
Chrome alum 16 grains
Water 3 ounces
If a specially thin dead surfaced coating is required, and this comes especially well on Bristol boards, noth- ing is better than albumen as a preparative. Ordinary albumenized paper, too, is most satisfactory. In all cases the solution should be applied with a pledget of wool or lint, and well— very well— mopped into the paper, which should previously have been marked on the wrong side, and then hung up to dry. Ivory or xylonite may be coated as Mr. Skelton suggests, with
(velatine (fairly hard) fi ounce
Water to ounces
Chrome alum 60 grains
The gelatine is first melted by heat, in eight ounces of water, and the chrome alum, dissolved in two ounces of warm water, is added drop by drop, the solution being subsequently filtered through muslin. Print, which has been soaked till limp, and support are brought into close
contact in this gelatine solution, squeegeed, and set to dry.
Wood panels, and I suggest they are suitable for still life studies, may. as Mr. Skelton again suggests, be pre- pared by thoroughly cleaning, rubbing with fine emery paper to give a tooth, and then, whilst warm, coating with
Gelatine 3 ounces
Sugar ounce
Glycerine H ounce
Water ^o ounces
Chromoalum (30 gr. solution > 9^ ounce
prepared as before.
Aluminum if well polished on a buff wheel makes a most effective support for certain subjects — costume studies, both in armour and rich silks and satins, and for this I have used the paper gelatinizing solution before given.
To-day one of the most popular supports for carbon prints is glass, and this is framed up with the back of the plate outwards, and the image backed up with white or tinted paper or fabric in close contact. Mr. Harold Baker was, to me. the introducer of this method, and I believe his *• Ely " print, which was awarded the R.P.S. medal— in 1896, but years pass quickly— owed much of its rich quality and brilliancy to this plan of printing it,
Last year, too, Mr. Greatbatch won with a picture pro- duced in a similar way, and Mr. J. H. Gash had more than one exhibited. Mr. Baker recommends the use of the special transparency tissue for this purpose, but personally I have always found the ordinary tissue to be more satisfactory for my negatives.
The gelatinizing solution for preparing the glass to receive the image is made as follows : 160 grains of Heinrich*s gelatine is soaked in water for one hour, and then melted by placing the vessel in a pan of hot water and keeping it just below boiling point. In the mean- while six grains of chrome alum is dissolved in 2 oz. of hot water, and as soon as the gelatine is melted this alum solution is added to it drop by drop, slowly, and with constant stirring.
The plate is thoroughly cleaned and warmed over a stove, and the warm solution is applied whilst warm, as collodion was coated in the old days, which now, thank heaven, are past and gone, though not forgotten, the superfluity being run off at the corner, and the plate set up in a warm place to dry. Plate glass is naturally the best, but the ordinary sheet will do, if white and absolutely clean. This, when thoroughly dry. is treated to an im- mersion in water at 60 deg. for a short time, and the ex- posed tissue is then brought into contact with it in the usual way, squeegeed, put under pressure in the usual way, and developed so as to obtain a thin image. It is then alumed, washed, and dried, pro more, and, as I have said, mounted glass outwards with a backing of white or suitably tinted paper or other material. Mirror glass may be, of course, coated in the same way, and some subjects — say a spray of flowers or a vignetted portrait — come very well on it . In order to get the best result a specially bevelled glass should be used, but this may be obtained from the dealers without trouble.
Carbon prints, especially those on rough or cold pressed paper, lose much of their brilliancy when dry. If it is wished to restore this, then they may he coated
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Gertrude Kdsebier,
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2 30
Our Monthly Digest
[May
STUDY or A CHILD.
Second Bronze Medal,
Mrs. HtUn P. Catch.
thinly and evenly with linseed oil four parts and painters' driers one part. Touch out all spots first, and then apply with a soft clean raj^.
For ordinary spotting the simple water color paint is not satisfactory, even if one is sufficiently lucky to hit the exact tint. Far better is it to melt a small strip of tissue of similar color, and whilst the pigment is moist and liquid, apply it with a fine brush to the spots. If, however, the oil is to be used, water color paint with a little gum will suffice, inasmuch as the subsequent treat- ment will bring all parts alike.
The Practical Photo^apher« — (Engfland)^ March
Percy Lund, the Editor of this journal, opens up this number with some bright pictures and an article descriptive of a ramble in one of those
quaint English villages, which seem always so full of pictures. T. Carter describes a method of " Printing from two or more Negatives," parts of which we give below :
''Printing from Two or More Negatives, by C Gtfter.
I will try to describe, in as few words as may be, what the process is and what may be accomplished by its means, and when I tell you that by its aid 1 find it comparatively easy to create mountains or remove them, build houses or demolish them, plant trees or cut them down and in a large measure so control and build up my pictures on the lines I desire, I think you will grant the method is worth your consideration.
I was making my way to the station when I saw in the distance the cart with its apparently jaded horse an4
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1900 1
Oar Monthly Digest
231
tired driver, very likely returning from some distant market, to a farm not visible to me.
As I saw it at the time I considered a picture might be made of the scene, but when a print was taken I found it disappointing and lacking in interest, so decided to utilize parts of it only, and the negative was treated as follows:
After printing a transparency by contact, a clearing solution was applied and the sky redticed to within three-eighths of an inch of the horizon line, and it was allowed to act long enough to reduce that part to clear glass or gelatine, the plate was then washed and dried.
I next selected from my stock the negative of a farm which I considered suitable for my pui*pose, and this I painted on the back with an opaque medium in such a way as to stop out all but the farm, again leaving a margin of three-eighths of an inch untouched around the buildings, trees, etc.
The position the farm was to occupy in the finished picture having been decided upon, a transparency of this also was made. When this was developed and fixed it was placed under the foreground plate and the re- ducer again requisitioned to obliterate as much of the image on the top plate as would be taken up by the farm, applying the solution alternately to each plate, thereby reducing the margins left round the building and blending it more effectively with the foreground. When washed and dried these plates were bound together similar to a lantern slide with its cover glass.
UpK>n viewing the result of the combination by trans- mitted light, it appeared to lack something behind the farm, so I decided to introduce some distant hills. An- other negative was chosen and operated upon in the same manner as before described, by stopping out all extraneous surroundings and making a positive of the hills. This being bound in position behind the other two plates, all that remained to be done was to add a sky; this was accomplished as follows :
The composite picture was placed in a printing frame under a sky negative which had clear glass below the horizon line, and upon this was placed the sensitive plate which was then exposed to light for the requisite time, developed and fixed. I may say here, it is very important that the bound plates and the one on which the sky is printed should be in exact register; this is easily secured by pressing them well into the angle of the printing frame ; the object of this I will explain.
When the sky transparency was finished, it was found that the bound composite had acted as a very efficient mask, stopping out all the dark parts of the picture and leaving that portion of the sky which had been covered by the hills, etc., quite clear, but in certain places where the light had been able to penetrate more readily, such as. e.g , the water in the foreground and the white- washed gable of the farm, there was left a faint impres- sion.
To this feature 1 would call your special attention, for should you consider any one part of your picture is out of tone or too obtrusive in the high-Hghts, you may by leaving these parts untouched by the reducer make the whole more harmonious, for when bound together in correct position with the foreground, these
unreduced places cover up and tone down the too bright spots.
In binding the transparencies together I find large metal paper clips of great assistance, as they will hold the plates firmly in register during the application of the paper strips; and whenever practicable I place the plate on which is printed the mid-distance immediately behind the foreground plate, next, that showing the distance, and lastly, the sky plate.
By this arrangement I preserve each plane in its rela- tive position, so that when finally the negative is made, if the lens be not unduly stopped down so as to bring all the plates into sharp focus, I secure those desirable quali- ties, true perspective and atmospheric effect, which are so necessary in successful landscape work.
Of course, it is impossible to make a negative by con- tact with the combined plates, but this is readily ob- tained by placing the positive in the shutter of a dark- ened room or in a lantern and copying through the camera; enlarged negatives may be produced by the usual means.
In developing the transparencies when two or more plates are to be superimposed, it is necessary to keep them fairly thin, otherwise it might be found difficult to obtain a light sufficiently strong to penetrate the shadows in a satisfactory manner.
Photo Era* — ApriL
Each successive number of this publication grows in interest. The frontispiece is Mrs. Kasebier's " Elinor," and an attempt, not very successful, is made to reproduce the original print in its two tones. Mr. Cochrane writes on ** Preparing Exhibition Work," a subject he is well acquainted with as his numerous Salon pictures acclaim; Arthur R. Wilmarth discusses "Flower Photography"; O. I. Yellott gives a *' personal " talk on Miss Johnston ; Arthur A. Gleason writes on *' Glycerine Development of Platinotypes," in which, however, he tells us nothing new, but shows two excellent ex- amples.
'^ Preparing Exhibition Work^^ by A. Cochrane. The first thing, and that demanding the most con- sideration, is the selecting of what we consider our best pictorial achievement. It is often so hard to decide on this point, so difficult to judge with impartiality. So often have we wrong-headed ideas as to the value of same particular print that, when we get rudely awak- ened from our dream, we become diffident of out critical powers. We judge our pet prints like a mother her children. She sees some beauty in her offspring quite imdiscovered by the unrelated critics; and, when the latter insist on tracing the hereditary causes of the children's snub noses, the fond parent is wild. If this mother is as wise as she is loving, she will have the full force of the latest scientific knowledge brought to bear on the offensive organ when the cherubs are asleep. We who would challenge outside criticism, let us look well to the appearance of our '* bairns " before we let them be seen, and thus save ourselves many a heart-throb.
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Oar Monthly Digest
[May
The pictures should be looked at over and over again. If any begin to pall, haul them out of the select com- partment at once, and have done with them. 1/ ever the worker has one doubt in his artistic conscience about a picture (whether it is one or not), he should not pro- ceed. If after repeated inspection the prints grow in g^ace, it is well; and we may now proceed to enlarge them for I hold that all exhibition work should be enlarged to reasonable size, as the standing of our photographic ex- hibitions will never be satisfactory as long as the walls are covered with small frames, where the visitor has to draw his nose along the walls.
The Photosfram. — (Engfland), April*
J. T. Keiley's Review of the Philadelphia Salon of 1899 is continued. An article on the ** Recent Progress in Color Photography by the Wood, Joly, Lippmann and Friese-Green Pro- cesses"; "Formulae for Lighting" by C. H. Hewitt, and " How to Build a vStudio " complete an instructive number.
''Formulae for Llghtlnsr/' by C H. Hewitt
If the sitter be a lady with dark skin and a light dress, the face should be well-lighted, or complaints will be made, when the proofs are received, of the darkness of the faccy notwithstanding that the values or relative tones of flesh and drapery may be quite correctly rendered. In a case like this I should throw more light into the shadowed side. If on the other hand the sitter be pale and dressed in a dark material, it will, undoubtedly, be better to cut off the strong light from the face by means of the head screen. As before, the contrast is lessened and the unpleasant effect avoided.
Whilst touching upon this matter of the relation be- tween dress and face, it may be well to recall what Harold Baker has more than once pointed out, namely, the difference in the apparent darkness of the face, cau.^ed by the use of backgrounds of varying shades. As many portraits, lighted according to this month's formulae, will be for vignetting, and to that end taken against light gray grounds, we have another reason for avoiding unduly strong or heavy shadows.
E. Nicolai
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TH E camera factories have not made any de- cided change in the model of cameras although the already numerous styles have been vastly improved. The long focus style is still the choice of the progressive amateur, and the reasons are so obvious for this preference that its popularity will doubtless be gfreater the present season. The long focus reversible back Solograph camera still maintains its unique position. The claims advanced by the manufacturers of this camera are very broad, and the popularity of the Solo- graph seems to substantiate all the manufacturer's claims for superiority. We will describe the camera in the manufacturer's own words :
The name of this camera is in itself a description of the instrument. It is a Solograph camera, designed for the more advanced amateur photographers, who feel the necessity of combining in one instrument, in a prac- tical way, the features which are requisite for almost
!i(!a^^
LONG FOCUS SOLOGRAPH.
universal application; this without materially increasing the bulk, weight, and price of the apparatus. The long focus reversible back Solograph resembles the regfular- Solograph. It is of the same high grade of workman ship, made of selected mahogany, well dove-tailed throughout, with French hand polish . Its brass trim- mings and adjustments are all hand-made, possessing the neatness and accuracy which, for the same reason of beiQg hand-made, the Swiss watches possess. It has a double swing-back swinging from the center, rack and pinion movement, reversible finder with hood to screen the visual. It also has a front that may be raised, lowered, or slid to either side, as the foreground should require. The front operates on two brass rods, which allow any desirable latitude in adjusting the foreground in the picture. As ihe name indicates, it has a reversi- ble back, which adjustment is of the greatest importance when the camera is used on the tripod, the position of the
plate being readily changeable without moving the cam- era. It has a greater focal capacity than any other similar camera on the market. It is the only camera of this style which has patented independent bellows for back and front draw with an ingenious device to support the bellows in the center, so as to keep them from sagging, which is one of the greatest defects in all other cameras.
This camera is of inestimable advantage for photo- graphing surgical operations, where it is necessary to obtain as large an image as possible.
For the use of long focus lenses— for copying, enlaig- ing, and all other purposes requiring an extended length of bellows, the long focus reversible back Solograph is particularly well adapted.
The lens is the Solograph rapid rectilinear. Being symmetrical, the front combination may be removed and the rear lens used alone, which practically doubles the focus. For mountain scenery and subjects at long range, this is often an advantage, as the objects in the view appear larger in the picture.
The necessity of a long focus camera in practical pho- tography is so apparent that this feature has been applied to a portable folding box, as illustrated by the following cut of the cycle long focus Solograph:
CYCLE CARTRIDGE SOLOGRAPH. Long Focus y Reversible Back.
This camera possesses all the good features of the long focus reversible back Solograph. It is of the same high grade of workmanship; made of selected mahogany, well dove-tailed throughout, with French hand polish. Its brass trimmings and adjustments are all hand-made, possessing the same neatness and accuracy which characterizes the Scovill cameras and the line of Solo- gtaphs throughout.
For copying, enlarging, and all work requiring the use of long focus lenses, such as portraiture, etc., it is
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Novelties of the Season
[May
How TO Carry it on a Bicycle.
especially well adapted, as the bed is arranged with telescopic extension. This camera when closed measures only 2 J x 6^x6^ inches, yet has an extension, when the telescopic end is drawn out, of over i s inches.
The swing is arranged on a new plan, greatly superior to other known methods.
The lens and shutter are the same as furnished with the regular long focus reversible back Solograph.
Another very excellent line of camera is the Graphic Series made by the Folmer & Schwing Mfg. Co. This concern makes no less than 25 different styles which are unsurpassed for beauty of finish and excellence of work- manship, and which include, long focus, stereoscopic, twin lens telescopic, and triple lens stereoscopic cameras. Their Graphic Magazine Plate-Holder is an ingenious and very useful attachment, which can be used with any make of camera.
The glass plates are loaded into metal septums, which septums are numbered on back from one to twelve, and the number appears before the ruby window at back of magazine in order that operator may tabulate exposures.
leather bag attached to end of magazine by means of a metal rod, which allows operator to grip the end. of septum with the reinforced end of bag and re-insert septum into rear of magazine holder, which forces the unexposed plates forward, bringing the forward plate into focus. The above operation may be repeated uniil the entire number of plates have been exposed, or one or more may be exposed and removed from magazine for development and the empty septums may be re- placed into magazine holder in order to fill their space. A safety .slide is provided which allows the operator to remove magazine from camera in order to focus upon the ground glass. This safety slide is provided with bolt for locking same in magazine holder to prevent its accidental withdrawal when magazine is removed from camera.
Springs in back of magazine force the septums for- ward, bringing the forward plate into a more accurate focal plane than any plate-holder now on the market.
Each septum has a depres.sion in back, in which the number is placed, and this depression also acts as a spring to force the plate forward into focus, regardless of thickness of plate. The back is removable for load- ing or unloading. When back is closed it is secured in position by sliding locks, which are fastened securely on sides of magazine.
When plate is exposed the septum is drawn into
Another popular camera is the *• Magazine," which latter style is divided into two classes : The box style, such as the New Tourist Magazine Daylight Loading Vive, and the "Cha.se " and " Bullard " Magazine folding cameras.
The Vive Magazine is especially well adapted for tourists, being compact, light, simple, and sure of opera- tion, and having a capacity for over 100 exposures at one loading, which can be made unlimited in number by using the Vive Daylight Loading Magazines. The Vive Removable Magazine with which each camera is fitted,
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Novelties of the Season
235
will hold from i to 36 ** S. R. V." backed plates, or i to over 100 **S. R. V." backed cut films without holders. For using unbacked plates or films, of any size smaller than the largest advertised, each camera is fitted with one dozen combination metal holders.
••The ** Magazine" folding camera, such as the **Chase " possess all the advantages of the folding style of camera, with the convenience of being loaded with a supply of plates, ready for a number of exposures.
The construction of the camera allows the plates to be changed very rapidly and at the same time there is no waste space inside the box. The method of dropping the exposed plate and transferring it to the rear is en- tirely new and the simplest device in use, and never fails in operation.
A valuable addition to photography is Millen & Wallace's ** Platinum Paper." Several trials of this paper have shown it to be thoroughly reliable, tones from cold blacks to the warmer browns being readily attainable, and also all the beautiful sepia and red tones which give platinum paper such a wide range of utility. The paper clears out to a pure white in the high lights, and it possesses one distmct advan- tage over the other platinum papers already on the market, namely, it requires to be printed so far that all detail, even in the half tones, is visible, so that the amateur need do no guess work as to length of exposure. The price is a moderate one, and the paper will un- doubtedly achieve a large sale.
HARVARD CAMERA CLUB*
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
W» B» Swift, President.
H» W. Eliot, Jr«t Con Sec*,
28 Hilton Block, Cambridge.
At the March Executive Committee meeting the recent growth of the Club was found to necessitate activities on broader lines. Two in- novations resulted, (i) To widen the Club's in- fluence. The Photographic Times was elected its official organ for a year. (2) The division of interest between art and science called for a splitting of the Club into two sections, an Art Chapter, and a Science Chapter, w4th officers to correspond.
The annual election resulted in the following officers for next year.
President, Vice-President, Sec* and Treas*, Con Secretary,
Executive Com.
H orate P. Aver ill.
W. B. Swift, 'OK W. P* Cohoe, J. YL White, '03. PL W.Eliot, Jr., '02 W. C Lane, '8 J, ! C F. Stiles, R. W. Morris, '02.
At the regular monthly meeting Prof. C. H. Moore, of the Fine Arts Department of the University, spoke on the ** Artistic Element in Photography." He said in part :
Photography, as he understood it, was the catching of a sun picture on a glass, and de- veloping it with chemicals. He said this was purely a mechanical process, and so photography was not, and could not be, a fine art. A lively discussion followed. One of the members sug- gested that he may have unduly limited his de- finition, and that just as painting included more than the mere coloring of a fence, so the term photography included thinking, judgment, and taste.
On March 21st Mr. B. J. Holcombe gave a demonstration of Velox.
The April meeting is to be a public lecture on ** Greek Drapery " by E. R. O. von Mach, in Fogg lecture room.
At the recent exhibition of the Corliss Art and Camera Club two of our members received awards : J. H. White, a first award for ** An Old Book," and R. W. Morris, a "Highly Com- mended " for " Musing."
H. W. Eliot, Jr.,
Cor. Sec.
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Regulations at the Paris Exposition
[May
TIMIDITY. /?. 'S". Kau/man.
Copyrighted i8qq„ by Geo. E. Matthews Co.
The Illustrated Buffalo Express Contest for Amateur Photographers, i8qg.
REGULATIONS REGARDING THE USE
OF CAMERAS AT THE PARIS
EXPOSITION.
THE reports regarding the right to take photographs at the Paris Ex- position, have been all astray, as the following notice has now been pro- mulgated by the management.
'* The use of hand-cameras is free, througfhout the Exposition.
Tripod cameras will only be allowed until one hour after noon, and will be sub- ject to a payment of 25 francs — ?i\^ dollars — for each admission, or a season ticket can be obtained on payment of 1,000 francs — 200 dollars.
Operators and their assist- ants will besides have to purchase tickets to enter the grounds.
Nothing can be photo- graphed without written permission of the exhibitor, and the photographing of palaces and pavilions will be subject to permission being obtained from the commissioners of the respec- tive governments or the various concessionaires."
These are most unfor- tunate conditions, if true, and there is no reason to doubt their authenticity. It had been hoped that a small charge, say of to or 25c., would be made for each ad- mission, but the sum of $5 per day or a payment of $200 for a season ticket, will almost preclude the average photographer from taking anything but a hand- camera into the grounds.
The time limit for the use of tripod cameras is also a hardship. On summer days but little outdoor work can be done satisfactorily between 12 and i, which cuts the time down con- siderably, and makes the *5 fee even still larger. We should advise all photographers who are going over to Paris in the interests of magazines or newspapers to provide themselves with as large a hand-camera as possible and with the best and quickest lens obtainable, and to leave their tripods and heavier cameras at home. They will probably save themselves money and much annoyance.
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We cannot, of course, be responsible for the opinions of our contributors. We endeavor to be responsible for their accuracy, but the in- dividual opinions as to what is good or bad in photography are as numerous as the stars above, and the magazine that would at all times reflect the opinions of but one mind would be but tiresome reading. Mr. Hartman continues in this nuTiber his excellent monographs on our lead- ing photographers, his subject this month being Mrs. Kasebier. Personally we do not agree with Mr. Hartman 's estimate of her work. We incline with many others to the belief that, in this county at any rate, her work as a portraitist is not excelled nor even equalled. Her faculty of psychologically catching the right moment and the right pose with her subjects is marvel- ous, and her originality of treatment shows that her mind is not subordinated to either old or new schools of art, although it is natural that one who has such an intimate knowledge of the old masters should at time unconsciously reflect the spirit of their work. Feeling this way, we were tempted to exercise an editorial preroga- tive and blue-pencil certain portions of the article in question. However, it stands as originally submitted, which is due to the per- sonal request x)f Mrs. Kasebier, who thus dis- proves our recent contention that the amateur photographer does not willingly submit to criticism.
In this number we reproduce a panoramic picture of the Cascade Mountains. Mr. Waite, in sending us these, writes as follows :
It is in the heart of the Cascade Mountains at an eleva- tion of about six thousand feet, in one of those beautiful retreats where heaven and earth seem to unite, such an exquisite blue has the sky and so bright and beautiful are the flowers at every direction the eye can turn.
The summit of the great mountain is nearly nine thou- sand feet above the foreground, and requires many hours of laborious climbing to surmount.
This is in Paradise Park and on the south slope of Mount Tacoma.
To THE Editor, Photographic Times : "A Photographic Paradox."
This is the caption under which the Kodak Circular writes a rebounding satire on the Inde- pendent Photographic Manufacturers' Associa- tion of America, by quoting from a dictionary the definition of the term "Association," and deducing therefrom that the Independent Photographic Manufacturers* Association is a "paradox."
According to the logic of the editor of the Kodak Circular, it cannot be an association and at the same time be independent. So far so good for the word "paradox." According to the' standard definition, a paradox is a " proposition or assertion which seems to be at variance or to contradict a previously ascertained truth, but which is nevertheless, true in fact."
No wonder then that the Kodak circular should be puzzled, for to the inspirers of that sheet the term " association " has but one mean- ing, viz. the combination of capital or men for selfish interests — for the purpose of restricting trade or curtailing individual independence. The real paradox lies in the fact that in a free country like ours, such manifest and avowed purposes should meet with no stronger opposi- tion, thus allowing them to become firmly grafted in the mind of the Kodak editor as the only possible aim of an association. The Inde- pendent Photographic Manufacturers' Associa- tion of America is entitled to its name by virtue of the spirit that moves its members to get together so as to collectively oppose all en- croachments on the liberty of the photographic trade —the manufacturer, the dealer, as well as the photographer. That the power of each must be delegated, for a common purpose, to an Association, is made necessary owing to the great power of the tyrant, who exacts not only the tribute of labor, but the surrender of indi- vidual liberty as well. The American Congress, while a body of delegated power to collectively
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238
Notes and News
[May
oppose injustice and tyranny, did not become thereby and by virtue of its power, a counter- part of the tyrant whom it successfully opposed. The name of an organized body implies but little; it is the code of morals by which it is ruled that determines its status.
The Kodak editor inquires " What have these people done for the photographic dealer?" no doubt losing sight of the fact that the only deal- ers who ever acquired a satisfactory compe-
tence did so previous to the advent of Kodak literature, but no dealer has since made more than a living, the pr«»fits now all going to one source
I fear very much that your publication will hesitate to publish this, but I trust that in fair- ness and justice you will proclaim once more the independence of the Photographic Times, by finding a place for this retort.
*'A Boston Dealer."
We were last week shown a series of new embossed imprints which the A. M. Collins M'fg Co. has just originated. They are a rather radical departure from some of those in former use, being smaller and embody- ing shield and crest designs of exceeding attractiveness. The modern ph')tographer has found it profitable to be- come critical regarding the appearance of the imprints which he uses on his mounts, and to the most critical of modem photographers we recommend the new em- bossed imprints of the Collins MTg Co. Like Collins Card Mounts, they have an air of aristocratic ex- clusiveness that has come to be considered a valuable asset.
A Qelatlno Citrate off Silver Emulsion ffor Photo, graphic Paper*— At a recent session of the Union Na- tionale des Soci6t6s Photographiques de France, M. A. Blanc brings out the fact that the formula for prepar- ing the photographic papers of the citrate of silver type are little known, and he proposes to give a formula which he has found very good in practice, giving very clear whites with a great facility in toning. Before proceeding to prepare the emulsion proper, a pre- servative emulsion is first prepared according to the formula:
Alcohol, go® 15 c. c.
White thellac 5 grammes
Dissolve hot and pour rapidly into 100 c. c. of boiling water; filter through absorbent cotton. The yellowish- white emulsion thus formed will keep for a considerable time. To prepare the sensitive emulsion, he proceeds as follows:
SOLUTION A.
Gelatine, best qualily g grammes
Chloride of cobalt, 0 per cent, solution 6 c. c.
Neutral tartrate of ammonia 2 grammes
Citrate of ammonia ^ gramme
Water 70 c. c.
This is to be placed in a porcelain receptacle of about 150 c, c. capacity; in a smaller vessel is placed —
SOLUTION B.
Nitric add 2.3 grammes
Distilled water 90 c. c.
After mixing, add 2} 2 grammes crystallized nitrate of silver.
The vessels A and B are placed in a water, bath and the temperature kept between 70° and 80° C. Each solution having been well mixed, B is poured rapidly into A, and to the emulsion which forms is added:
Alcohol, 90® X3 c. c.
Preservative emulsion.... sec.
Mix and filter through absorbent cotton; the emulsion is then ready to be applied to the paper. It should be used as soon as possible after preparation, as it will not keep longer than a few days. The paper, of course, may be kept for a long time without deterioration.
The •• Witchery of Kodakery," is the catchy title of the Eastman Kodak Catalogue for 1900, and well ex- presses the subtle spell which those clever little con- trivances exert over their owners. There are two or three new styles listed, notably a No. 3 Cartridge, simi- lar in style to the well-known Nos. 4 and 5, but taking a 4,^ X 3>^ picture; and a No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak, also taking a 4^ x 3>< picture. The No. i Panoram- Kodak at $10 also looks as if it might be a favorite, tak- ing a 2^ X 7 picture, a very pleasing change from the old 4x5 and square pictures. Catalogues will be sent post-paid to any inquirer.
Digitized by
J
1900]
The Editor's Table,
239
Alfred Clements.
Mr. Carbatt, whose Vinco Paper is rapidly gaining ground, sends us the following letter : —
Moscow. Idaho, March 15, 1900. Mr. John Carhutt,
Wayne Junction, Phila. Dear Sir : Your favor of February 6th came duly to hand. The paper was received some time before I find Vinco so much superior to that it is a wonder to
me the latter can be sold at all where your paper is known. The amateur who succeeds in finishing 50 per
cent, of his work creditably on should be able to
win 95 times out of 100 with Vinco. A portion of the following order is fora leading photographer in Moscow, whom I have induced to try Vinco; however, you may send all to me, and send all Rough. Bank draft en- closed.
Yours truly, F A. H.
Flame, Electricity, and the Camera. Man's progress from the first kindling of Fire to the Wireless Tele- graph and the Photography of Color; by George lies. This remarkable work shows us why science has ac- complished more in the nineteenth century than in all preceding time, by tracing man's progress from cave- man to twentieth -century scientist. It tells succinctly the chief uses of fire, of electricity, and of the camera, bringing the narrative of discovery and invention to the dose of 1899. The author also states that ** it is sought to show how profoundly recent accessories to knowledge are transforming the foundationsof social, political, and economic life, while at the same time they are correcting and broadening the deepest convictions of the human soul." The book is well illustrated throughout and written in a terse, crisp way, which makes the reading of it a pleasure. $2.00 net. Doubleday & McClure Co., Publishers, New York.
Ferric and Heliograph ic Processes, by Geo. £. Brown, F. I. C.
An excellent manual on the ferro-prusmate and related sensitive jiapers, which both the amateur photographer and the practical engineer will find invaluable. Daw- barn & Ward, Publishers, London. Tennant & Ward, American agents, New York.
The Plioto- Miniature.— Reprints of numbers 3 and 4, being the sixth and seventh thousands respectively of these sterling hand-books, have reached our table. Dur- ing the coming season they will doubtless need many reprintings, treating as they do of the hand-camera (No. 3) and outdoor work (No. 4). No. 10, the Blue Print and its Variations, has also come to hand, and is fully up to the standard set by the publishers. Tennant & Ward, New York.
Digitized by
240
The Editor's Table
[May
Esthetlque de la Photographle.— This is the title of a sumptuous volume on pictorial photography, which is announced as ready for publication by the Photo Club of Paris. Chapters have been written by E. Wallon, C. Puyo, M. Bucquet, R. Demachy, and others, and the book is illustrated by over 100 illustrations and plates by these and other artists. The price is set at 16 francs, and the publishers of the Times will be pleased to remit orders for the work, as same can be sent direct to the Secretary of the Photo Club of Paris, 44 Rue des Ma- hurins, France.
•• Expression by Photography," by C. Francis Jenkins.
This little work, a reprint from the Photographic Times, with added illustrations, will shortly be pub- lished by the Scovill & Adams Co. of N. Y. The author shows by diagrams and portraits the various emotions which the human face is capable of showing. The work is indispensable to those who make a feature of portraiture.
THE <PHOTOGRA<PHIC IIMES RECORD
Of Competitions Open to Photogffaphers«
NAME
Piiotographic Times Photographic Times
Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Joumad Indianapolis Press
ADDRESS
New York New York
Philadelphia, Pa.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Indianapolis. Ind.
SUBJECT
Book Illus- Uation
StUl Life Study
Attractive
Outdoor
Scenes in the
Country
Booth at any
Fair or Festival
Changed Bi- weekly
PRIZES
$175.00 Cash and I 6 Medals
CXOSING DATE
Sept. I, 1900
RESTRICTIONS
None
REMARKS
iSUver Medal 1 Bronze Medal
1 at $150.00 1 at 100.00 1 at 75.00 SO.OO 25.00 10.00
1 at
1 at
10 at
May 1. 1900
November], 1900
See Rules
See Journal for April
See January Number
Address Art Bureau
1 at $100.00
1 at 50.00
8 at 25.00
6^ at ^0.00
$5.00, $a.00 and '
♦a.00 I
July 1, 1900
Sec Jouroal for March
Bi-weekly
Must use Coupon Amateurs only
Address Art Bureau
See Paper
Leslie's Weekly Patent Record Mail and Express IlL Buffalo Express
Tbe Camera
New York, N. Y.
Baltimore, Md.
New York, N. Y.
Buffalo, N. Y.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Recent Cur- rent Events
Unique Sub- jects and Re- cent Current Events
General
$5.00 Cash
$5.00, $3.00 and $8.00
$5.00
Weekly
15th of each month
I Amateurs $1 paid for each
I No Copyright Pictures photograph used
Amatetu^
See Paper
Crying Baby
Cash
$5.00, $2.50
Weekly
Annual
Apiil 80
I Amateurs I No Pictures Re-
I No Copyright Pictures j turned
I Photographs pub- lished and paid for liberally
See Rules
The American Boy
Detroit, Mich.
No Set Sub- ject
$2.00
Monthly
Held Monthly
I Subscribers' only photS^ph^u^**
Western Camera Notes
Minneapolis. Minn.
General
Cash and Materials
Photo Beacon
Photo Beacon Cottage and Castle Outdoor Life Outdoor Life
Evening: Teleg^ram
Chicago,
Hi.
Chicago, 111.
New York
Denver, Colo.
Denver, Colo.
Children I under 7 |
I Local Intensi- I fication
General
Books
Books
$5.00 Cash
May 81
[ay 81 IWO
I Subscribers and Ama- . ,,,..-
I teurs only. Sec Rules | "«'<* Monthly
Held Monthly
New York, N.Y.
Northwestern Amateur
St. Paul, Minn.
Mountain Scenery
Animals
1.000 Grain Silver Medal
News Kvenis
Odd Scenes in N.Y. Stole.
1,000 Grain Silver Medal
April 80, 1900
15th of each month
June 7, 1900
May 7, 1900
See Rules. See Rules
Held Monthly
Amateurs only
$aO.OO, $10.00 and $6.00 I
May 1, 19U0
Use Coupon
Use Coupon
Amateurs only See Paper
Sec Rules
Held Monthly See Magazine
Held Monthly See Magazine
No Pictures Re- turned
Spring Landscapes
Cameras and Supplies
May 15, 1900
Amateurs and Subscribers only
I
All publications holding competitions open to photographers are invited to send in full particulars of same for insertion in above Record, as it is desired to make it as complete as possible.
Digitized by
Vol. XXXJ
f fH)VJSt DOLLARS PER ANNUmJ
JUNE, 1900.
Number 6.
SINGLE COPIES, 35 CEMTS.
THE
Li\«
LEU*-
Photographic
MES
•^%
, An-Illustrated /Vonthly-ZUgazine
DEVOTED-TO-THE-
INTERESTS- or-
ARTISTIC£rSCIENTinC-
^ Photography
sUl
THE*PHOTOGRAPHIC*TIMES*PUBLI!.....,„
ASSOC1ATIO1SK60*ani)^62^EASK1?^STaNEW->YORK.
TiV-^T'^rifr-iW-i^ ' li
yt^Am^.-^ V, 1
Digitized by
CONTENTS
** Shy lock " — Frontispiece — By Jos. T. Keiley. ..opp. 241 The New Phosphate of Silver Paper— By Johannes
Meyer, M.D 241
Scheveningen — ^T. J. Preston, Jr. — Illustration 241
Alpine Dusk— By Geo. W. Norris, M.D. —Illustra- tion 243
•* Homeward "—By Wm. T. Mullins— Illustration. .. 244 Photographic Fancy Work — By Howard Park Daw- son—Illustrated. . • 244
Landscape — By Alfred Clements — Illustration 247
A Few Hint on Photographing Flowers — By C. E.
Volk— Illustrated 248
Flower Study— By C. E. Volk— Illustration 248
On the Scientific Photography of Shells— By Dr.
R. W. Shufeldt— Illustrated 249
A Large Cowrie— By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt— Illustra- tion 249
Eleven Shells— By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt— Illustration 250 A Large Cowrie— By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt— Illustra- tion 251
Spiral and Bivalve Shells— By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt—
Illustration 252
Strombus Bitaberculatus— By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt—
Illustration 253
Sub-Fossil Shell— By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt— lUustra-
tion 254
Photographic Clubs: Their Formation and Manage- ment— By Percy Lund 254
The Last Glow— By F.T. Aschmann— Illustration. 255
Landscape— By Carl Wolff— Illustration 257
A Sioux Warrior— By Joseph T. Keiley— Illustration 258
She Purloined the Cfross— By W. S. Haskell 266
After the Storm — By John Beeby — Illustration 260
Bruges-Belgium — ByT. J. Preston, Jr. — Illustration 260 Under the £lm— By Frank N. Lord — Illustration . . 261
Our Competitions 261
Cooling off— By Frank N. Lord — Illustration 261
Joseph T. Keiley— By J. C. Abel— Illustrated 262
PAGB
Blossoms— By H. A. Beasley^Illustration 262
A Courtier— By Joseph T. Keiley— Illustration 263
Lantern Slide Making for Beginners — By Primrose- Hill— Illustrated 264
Congressional Library— By T. J. Preston, Jr.— Illus- tration 265
Winter — By John Beeby — Illustration 265
Zit-Kala — By Joseph T. Keiley — Illustration 267
* Inquiry into the KarlyHistory of Photography. . . . 268 ** Talking Shop "—By W. E. Dunmore— Illustration 269 •* Soft Blows the Wind that Breathes from Yonder Sky "—By G. W. Norris, M.D.— Illustration. .. 270
Winter— By T. J. Preston, Jr.— Illustration 271
Bicycle Camera Carrier — By George S. Currie — Il- lustrated 272
Our Monthly Digest 273
The Glow of Summer Noon — By J. C. S. Mummery
Illustration 274
Lightning— By D. Archibald — Illustration 275
At the Bridge — By Frank N. Lord — Illustration 275
Landscape — By Joseph T. Keiley — Illustration 276
Illustration— By Herbert A. Hess 277
Cabby — By John Beeby — Illustration 278
•• Read It Again "—By Alfred Holden— Illustration 279
Landscape — By G. Ostertag — Illustration 280
Novelties of the Season 281
Club Memoranda 282
Editorial Notes 283
Notes and News 284
Obituary — Illustrated 284
Philadelphia Photographic Salon, 1900 285
Royal Photographic Society of London 285
Moonlight on the Pacific— By A. Svenson— Illustra- tion 286
Photographic Times Record 288
* Copyright, 1900^87 the Photographic Times Publishiog As- sociatioQ.
NOT A SUGGESTION . . .
...BUT A FACT
that
. . DISCO . .
the gelatine^ non-curling, hard film printing-out paper is also available fw
QUICK PRINTING
by gaslight or by daylight.
Afterwards— DEVELOP like a PLATE, using OUR SPECIAL FORHULA.
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
ARE THUS ABSOLUTELY INDEPENDENT
OF THE WEATHER AND THE TRUST.
THE SCOVILL & ADAMS CO. OF NEW YORK,
60 & 62 East Eleventh Street, New York.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
rt'Bir NBW y'orK 7D9LIC LIBRARY
1 Arr#K, teiwx an»
TlUV^Hr FOUNOATiONt.
Digitized by
Digitized by
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c^r^N
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p.ipc rs is with little va'-i-.M'»ns [h<j s.-.inc. Wilh s.^i^Ij-.^- t;.;i ^ .\-'..-!: ;• !.
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v "': Lv'e cxp'^rinH^uie'.l v,:'i. la** ^ilvcrpi,'.- •aa^i'r bi.L '.vitno'^t pN-te^ii^.ti <-aa(sy I:r. Vy'* ,)*Tvi'-< '■"(} a pia-fip'iate <^t ,' ib v" •■!' s; !r'!o m 'la- •''.:a.-. .a' tar ]\r^"r b^ d-'iil Ivca.^'^rM ').^i*.:' Tian-! '.. ' .n.' p.rp'-i \\\{h a '^(^lutioTi ' t >!(.<. 'I ';o,- pa it.
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Digitized by
Photoffnivure
by the
Photochromt Bog. Co., N. Y.
Digitized by
Googlf
Vol. XXXII.
JUNE, 1900
THE NEW PHOSPHATE OF SILVER PAPER.
BY JOHANNES MEYER, M.D.
THERE are so many excellent printing papers in the market that a new one must possess extraordinary qualities to attract public attention. The fundamental principle in the pre- paration of the commercial silver printing papers is with little variations the same. With the aid of a viscous substance, like gelatine or collodion, etc., a halogen silver salt is brought into a fine state of division, and this so-called emulsion, is applied by suitable machinery to the surface of the paper or other material, form- ing a thin larger on such a support, which from its very nature is very unstable. A few other silver salts are used, but mainly as accelerators or adjuvants to the haloid. Entirely neglected were the silverphosphates which on account of their molecular construction deserved a little more attention. Very little therefore is known and written about them, and they never found a place of usefulness in any art or manufacture. Some sixty years ago Dr. Fyfe and Mr. Max- well Lyte experimented with the silverphos- phate, but without practical success. Dr. Fyfe produced a precipitate of silverphosphate in the fibres of the paper by double decomposition and coated paper with a solution of silverphosphate in ammonia or ammonium carbonate. He spread also a paste made of silverphosphate and spirits of turpentine and Canada balsam on
canvas. Hardwich mentions the phosphates only once in his "Manual of Photographic Chemistry " He writes: *' Other insoluble salts of silver, such as the phosphate or citrate, render the prepared paper (he speaks of an ex- periment with sensitized Swedish paper) more sensitive than when it has been treated with a soluble salt of silver only." But whatever may account for these failures and neglect, we will presently see, that the silverphosphates deserve our attention.
It was known that the silverphosphates are soluble in ammonia, in aqueous phosphoric acid, nitric acid, and acetic acid. But I discovered that they are also soluble in a number of other organic acids, such as citric, succinic, and tartaric acids and that with tartaric acid a true emulsion
SCHCVENINGCN
T.J. Preiton.Jr.
Photographic Times Competition. Lantern Slides.
Copyright, 1900, by The Scovill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. V.. Post Office
Digitized by
242
The New Phosphate of Silver Paper
[June
is formed under certain conditions. The various silverphosphates do not differ materially from each other in their behavior towards tartaric acid, and we can, therefore, confine ourselves to the orthophosphate of silver. If we add to an aqueous solution of 4 grms. of silver nitrate a well diluted solution of 4.7 grms. of sodium- phosphate, a fine yellow precipitate will at once settle to the bottom, which we recognize as silverphosphate. The precipitate is washed care- fully by decantation, and by careful removal of the supernatant water and tapping of the bot- tle brought to the volume of 32 c.c. To this phosphate precipitate are then added 30 c.c. of a saturated solution of tartaric acid. This solu- tion is poured into the phosphate precipitate as quickly as possible, and while we impart at the same time to the container, preferably a wide- necked bottle of brown or yellow glass, a quick rotar}' motion, we observe that in about a min- ute, while we gradually lessen the rapidity of rotation, the liquid mixture has turned into a white cream, whichultimately forms a stiff jelly of about 60 c.c. By heating this thick emulsion or agitating it with a glass rod we render it more fluid, and in this condition it is suitable for coat- ing plain or albumen ized paper or other ma- terials.
This phosphor printing paper is a printing out as well as a developing out paper. A thin negative will be copied in about 10 minutes in the shade on a sunny day, and will print out in the same length of time at a distance of about a foot and a half from a 1000 candle power arc light. For developing I used a heated solution of gallic or pyrogallic acid. The exposure for developing may be from a few seconds where hardly any change can be seen on the paper, to a point where the outlines of the print can be distinctly discerned. The development proceeds more slowly in gallic acid, but the latter seems to give better results.
No overprinting is needed in case the paper is used for printing out, as the hypo does not weaken the print. Overprinting would, there- fore, injure the high -lights, but the print should be carried to its full strength. After the print is finished, it can be immediately transferred from the printing frame to the fixing bath. But if it should be desirable or necessary to defer the fixing of the print, the print will not suffer any by such a delay as the paper, properly pro- tected, will keep for a long time under any climatic conditions. The hypo bath is not as strong as the one now in use. An ounce of hypo
to a quart of water with about a drachm of wash- ing soda or carbonate of soda added will fix the print in about two minutes, but a longer time will do no harm. As above stated the print will not weaken in the hypo, though it may appear to lose its color. But the original color, in gen- eral a deep brown or auburn, will come back when the print dries, and if the drying is done near a stove or in any other warm place, the shade will in some cases be very dark. If the fixing bath is not alkaline, the print will be sul- phuretted in a few minufes, the organic acid in the pap-^r decomposing the hypo quickly. I cannot share the almost universal opinion, that pictures toned by sulphur are not permanent. I toned prints in this manner four years ago, and cannot see that they show any sign of fading or are otherwise deteriorated. I washed these prints after the hypo-bath in a water bath of 90 deg. for about 15 minutes, and it might very well be that this warm bath has made them seemingly permanent. And though sulphur toning is said to have many objectionable feature, it cannot be denied that our pictures do not suffer in ap- pearance if the sulphuration is not too far ad- vanced. The use of albumen and a final, pro- longed warm water bath seem to prevent such prints from becoming yellow and faded by at- mospheric oxidation. But if we wish to pre- serve the original brown tone or wish to tone with gold or platinum, we have to add an alkali to the hypo. The toning solution must be warm.
In connection with our experience regarding toning may be mentioned here as a singular characteristic of prints on cotton that their tone can be changed to a permanent deep black with a hot flatiron, whereas prints on silk will not undergo this change. Though the predominant color of the phosphor silver prints is brown, many show various other tones, and it must be assumed that certain negatives act as media for the transferring of color qualities of the object and influence the tone of the print under condi- tions unknown to us. A violet or blue in the object is reproduced to a certain degree of dis- tinction by a slight sulphuration. A pleasant reddish tone can be produced by immersing the print in a citric acid bath before fixing. But the print has then to be washed with water be- fore it is transferred to the fixing bath. If a gold or platinum tone is desired, the prints need no overprinting even then, as they rather gather strength in the toning bath.
The rules for using the phosphor printing
Digitized by
jqoo]
The New Phosphate of Silver Paper
243
ALPINE DUSK.
Geo. IV. Norrit, M.D.
paper can be condensed into a few directions :
1. Do not overprint.
2. Remove the print from the printing frame directly to an alkaline fixing bath, consisting of one ounce of hypo, one drachm of washing soda and one quart of water.
3. Transfer the print from the fixing bath after about 2 to 4 minutes to running cold or warm water.
As the hypo solution is very weak, and the time required to fiYi the print very short, the deadliest enemy of photographic silver prints can, therefore, be easily removed.
My experience with these silver phosphate compounds and printing methods, for which letters patent have been granted to me, extends over the last four years. If such researches were my only occupation, I might have pre- sented here a more exhaustive article. But being a physician, the time I could give to
such experiments was indeed very limited, and I need hardly mention that the expenses connected with such work are heavy. But I hope that I have added a valuable improve- ment to the photographic art. There is very little doubt in my mind that the silverphos- phate prints are as permanent as prints on any other printing paper. I have to see the print yet which showed any signs of fading or change of color after being subjected to a very rough treatment.
That this paper will readily find public favor, can hardly be questioned. The details of the prints are even discernible in the deep shadows, and the high lights are brilliant. The well known artists, Mr. A. Stieglitz and Mrs. Gertrude Kasebier succeeded easily in producing prints on my phosphor printing paper which are the admiration of every lover of art. Their prints are mostly on Whatman paper.
Digitized by
244
Photographic Fancy Work
[June
:■'. >»«..• 'J^\ - > • r. '*^-^ ^•^^-:
NOMKWARO.'
IV. T. Muliins.
PHOTOGRAPHIC FANCY WORK*
BY HOWARD PARK DAWSON.
CHAPTER 1.
FERRO-PRUSSIATE LINEN.
NO other art, science, or pastime can be employed in so diverse a number of ways as photography. It can be most thoroughly enjoyed as a means of recreation by a school- boy, or impart aid and assistance to the most skilful astronomer or scientist.
Although this is true, a great many amateurs never go farther in the art than to make prints from their negatives on some brand of gelatine aristotype paper, and if by chance they advance to the use of velox or platinum papers their friends look upon them as something out of the ordinary run of camerists. Aside from this class there is that large body of students who thoroughly understand the making of a good negative, and who are masters of most of the well known printing prcesses, yet who never employ their art in any other way than in the making of prints, except, perhaps, in the pre- paration of a few transparencies and lantern slides.
To both of these classes of amateurs I would say: Half of the pleasure of photography is lost to you if you do not use the art in the mak- ing of some kind of fancy work, for by so em- ploying photography you can not only greatly
beautify your home, but you can also prepare charming little souvenirs for your friends as well, souvenirs, too, which from their novelty will be most highly prized by their recipients. In this way, too, the art can be made to yield profit as well as pleasure, for such fancy work will almost always find a ready market among those interested in the decorative arts.
As most of the fancy articles which I shall describe in this series of papers have for a base some kind of a woven fabric, I will in the first four chapters describe the workings of four different sensitive cloths, two of which yield blue pictures, and on two of which brown, pur- ple, and black tones may be obtained.
The first of these processes which I shall tell you about is the method employed in preparing homemade ferro-prussiate linen. Almost any linen can be used in making this sensitive material; but in selecting the fabric one should, of course, always consider the kind of fancy articles that are to be made from it, for differ- ent articles require different grades of cloth. For general all around work, however, I have found that the variety of linen known as satin damask will give the best satisfaction, and I would strongly advise the novice to employ it in his first experiments As in sensitizing the linen a decided yellow
Digitized by
1900]
Photographic Fancy Work
245
tinge is imparted to the cloth, it is best to coat quite large pieces of the cloth rather than to try and sensitize only those parts where you desire the pictures to be. Tn fact, I do not think this latter operation can be accomplished m a per- fectly satisfactory manner when working with ferro prussiate linen.
Having cut your cloth to the desired size — which may of course be of a larger size than your printing frame, as the fabric can be so folded as to fit into the frame — you are ready to sensi- tize it.
Having secured a board somewhat larger than the largest piece of fabric you desire to coat, you should cover it with several thick- nesses of newspaper and fasten your cloth se- curely in position with a few thumb tacks. Of course common pins may be employed in this operation; but as they are always coming out at just the wrong time and so cause you much bother and trouble, to say nothing of placing a constant strain on your temper, I think you will find the expenditure of a few cents in draw- ing pins a sum well invested.
The sensitizing mixture is prepared in two stock solutions, which solutions should be kept in well-corked bottles in a dark place when not in use, and when so kept \yill retain their good qualities for some time. As the chemicals are so cheap, however, it is better to get fresh material every month or so rather than to try and push the chemicals too far, and so run the risk of obtaining poor results.
Stock solution A is made by dissolving ij ounces of citrate of iron and ammonium in 8 ounces of water. Solution B is composed of I J ounces of ferricyanide of potassium dissolved in 8 ounces of water. For use equal parts of A and B are mixed in a small saucer.
When ready to sensitize the fabric, take an inch wide camel's hair brush, such as is used for dusting dry plates, and dipping it in the sensitizer, coat the cloth in broad sweeps.
After coating the cloth may be allowed to dry spontaneously, or the process may be hastened by the aid of a gentle heat. If the latter method is employed, however, you see that too high a temperature is not used. Stand- ing the cloth near a partly open register will probably dry the fabric in the quickest and best way possible.
After you have coated all the linen you wish to use for one day, you should throw away what chemicals remain mixed in the dish, as the two ingredients do not keep at all well after having
been united in one solution. The brush and saucer should also be most carefully cleansed after a day's work, for any trace of old chemi- cal will be apt to entirely ruin the next batch of cloth you try to sensitize.
When the cloth is perfectly dry it is ready for printing. As one is somewhat likely to move the linen in examining the process of printing, and so obtain a blurred print, I have found it well to coat several pieces of unruled paper at the same time you are sensitizing your cloth, and use these as trial slips to get the correct printing time of your negative. You should always print ferro-prussiate linen until the shadows are well bronzed. It fact, it is some- what difficult to over-print this homemade sen- sitive fabric. Therefore, you should carry the printing on the trial slips much farther than you would do for a paper print. Even then, when the linen is in the frame, you will find it well to give a trifle longer time than was found correct with the slips. The reason for this is that the solution stays on the surface of the paper while^it sinksjnto the body of the fabric.
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Bisauc fiquhk.
/'>/'. ^.
and so, of course, the cloth will require longer printing to give good results.
In choosing negatives to print from on this sensitized cloth either plucky ones, /r., having marked contrasts, or those showing broad out- lines rather than a mass of small detail, should be employed, for much detail is lost in the process.
Cut paper designs, which I shall describe in a subsequent article, are especially suited for work with this linen, and copies of bisque figures, and fern and leaf photographs are well adapted for use with the method. The two illustrations of this article show such a fern photograph and bisque figure, the negatives of which I have employed in making fancy-work with perfect satisfaction.
In making a leaf or fern photograph it will be found best to press the plant in the printing frame until all superfluous moisture has been extracted from it, or the linen will surely show a bad stain. The glass, too, must be carefully
wiped to remove any moisture adhering to it, for the same reason. A leaf of fern which has been kept until it has become perfectly dry will not, however, yield a really satisfactory print, and so the plant should be kept under pressure, as I have before intimated, only just long enough to extract the excess of moisture from it. In printing from a leaf, too, it is well to carry the operation quite far, so as to show clearly all the veins and delicate markings of the plant.
In copying a bisque figure for use on this linen you should always use a black background, for it will not only set the figure off in the best manner, but will, of course, give a blue back- ground in the finished picture, and this will be found to be most attractive.
Having removed the cloth from the frame, you should now place it in a bath of quite hot water. The fabric should be allowed to remain in this bath for about two minutes only, so that the chemicals which are removed by the water shall not be absorbed again by the cloth. On its removal from the first water the fabric should be at once placed in a second bath, where it should be allowed to remain for about five minutes. At the end of this time it should be placed in a third bath for ten minutes, after which it will require two or three more wash- ings of about ten minutes each. All of these baths should be in water of a fairly high tem- perature, for in working with this linen I have found that hot water will give the best possible results, although, of course, it will act as some- what of a reducer, and so deep printing must be resorted to.
When the linen is dry it may be ironed with a moderately hot iron; in fact, I think this operation improves the tones of the picture somewhat. In laundering the cloth, however, you should never use soap or alkali of any sort, for anything but plain water will either cause the image to fade badly or else will make un- sightly stains. An occasional washing in clear water on the other hand, will improve rather than injure the fabric.
If all the operations have been conducted carefully you will be surprised to see what charming results can be obtained by this pro- cess of making blue pictures, and the resulting prints can be made up into many fancy articles, some of which I shall describe at length in future chapters of this series.
The great advantages possessed by this pro- cess of making prints on fabrics are its sim- plicity, cheapness,' and the short time it requires
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Alfred CUmenU.
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Hints on ^Photographing Flowers
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to turn out good prints. Its main drawbacks are the yellow tinge imparted to the cloth, and the fact that the pictures lose much of their de- tail. However, the amber tinge is not at all marked, and will hardly be noticed if the linen is not placed in close contact with very white fabrics, and by employing negative with bold outlines and sharp contrasts the other defect may be overcome, at least to a great degree. (To be Continued,)
A FEW HINTS ON PHOTOGRAPHING FLOWERS*
BY C. E. VOLK.
OF all the many subjects in still life none ap- peal to me more forci- bly as beau- tifully than flowers and for the benefit of those who are like- wise interested, I will give in as few words as possible the results of my experiments. The field is so large, the variety so vast, and as each subject requires such different treatment, I will take but one or two at this time. Thus far I have succeeded among other varieties in mak- ing beautiful artistic effects of the stately lily. First of all care must be used in the proper arrangement of them, always re- membering that the most pleasing and ar- tistic effects are made from a very few. Never crowd them, and if posed in a vase one must remember that the picture or sub-
'^ FLOWKR STUDY.
ject is of flowers and not of the background or the receptacle, which holds them. All must be in harmony and tend to not detract from the subject. One cause of the many failures in photographing flowers is lack of proper lighting, especially for those of deli- cate tinting. The calla lily should be placed well forward about four feet from the window and two-thirds forward. There, by concentra- ting the light, you can preserve all the detail at the same time bringing out those exquisite high lights, which make the finished picture a thing of beauty and a joy for ever. Great care and judgment should be used in the proper selec- tion of backgrounds.
Flowers of the light variety usually give a more pleasing effect against dark back- grounds. With Amer- ican Beauty roses, you can with advantage permit a little more full light on the sub- ject, and as the flowers show up a little darker, a delicate pearl gray or dead white can be used for the back- ground.
In developing the plate my method is to use a developer under normal strength to start with, and after the shadows are pretty well brought out, I strengthen the devel- oper and finish the plate. So many ways can be suggested for printing and mounting that I will only cau- tion the beginner that no regular size can be used. The print should be trimmed to fit the picture whether it be a long narrow panel or a square, and in mounting do not use ^ .^ ,r ,1. too small a card.
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ON THE SCIENTIFIC PHOTOGRAPHY OF SHELLS.
BY DR. R. W. SHIFELDT, C.M.Z.S.
ROM the very dawn of the illustrated litera- tureof conchological sci- ence in works devoted to that subject we meet with every class of figures of shells. Often these are found to be very beautiful, hav- ing been executed by famous colorists of great merit. Others
VOLUTA BCAPHA.
Dr. Sku/eldt.
are mere sketches ; some are drawn repre- senting the shells in their natural habitats. Then there are litho- graphs, copper. plate engravings, reproductions of pen and ink drawings, and a great many other varieties of pictorial illus- tration. What the scientist of the present day demands, how- ever, in the way of illustrations to conchological treatises is that the specimens, accurately colored if possible, shall be reproduced upon plates, following in se- quence the best natural classifi- cation of the time, and showing each shell from two or three points of view, should its peculiar form and structure demand such a display. When not too large, every specimen should be repre- sented of a natural size, and exhibit all of its characters in the most minute manner possible. Every line, spot, color definition, and all else should be exactly as it is in the original, as well as the form of the object, absolutely. Probably this has never been accomplished in the case of any single specimen, either colored or uncolored by the aid of the human hand and eye alone.
Having invoked the aid of photography in illustrating so
many of my published works devoted to bio- logical subjects, it occurred to me recently that shells might be photographed for repro- duction more successfully than any of the attempts it had been my fortune to have run across. As I have a great many beautiful shells collected in various parts of the world, they being natural objects that possess a peculiar faccination for me, I selected the other day (April I, 1900) a number of specimens from the collection, representing a variety of species sizes, and forms, as well as colors, with the view of photographing them, and this is the method I adopted. A light pine board was selected about a yard long and half a yard wide, and
A LARQK COWRIK (vCNTRAL VIEW,
Dr. R. n\ Shu/eldt.
Fig. 2.
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Fig, I.
Dr. R. ly. Shufeldt,
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rather less that half an inch thick. At one end of this I nailed two pine strips (12x2x1 inches) parallel to each other with just room enough between them to admit the holding up of a pane of fine, thirty clear glass, by pushing it down into the interval. At the other end of the board there is placed at right angles to it another piece of similar dimensions. This latter piece is intended to support the background employed, whatever may be selected. In the photography of shells I use pure white blotting paper of rather coarse grain and *' linty." Next, this entire affair is placed upon a tripod or easel, in such a manner as to bring the horizon- tal piece of board about in the same plane with the bed of the camera, which is also supported upon a tripod of equal — -- height.
Now the plane of the glass must be about two feet or more from the plane of the blotting paper and parallel to it. So that it is evident that anything affixed to the former, would, when focussed upon by the camera, appear as though it were being taken in mid- air, with an immaculate background behind it.. This is just exactly what we desire for by properly placing in your studio, or out of doors as for that matter, both the specimen stand as well as the camera tripod, the light can be controlled absolutely, and that to the elimination of all shadows ^ and to the reduction to the minimum of bright lines and brilliant points upon the glossy specimens. We must be particularly careful in selecting our panes of glass for this purpose. They may be of any size desired all the way from an 8x10 to the larger pieces. The thinner the panes are the better, and in any case it must be as free as possible from all air bubbles, twists and distortions or any other kind of imperfections whatever. For it is evident that if there be any- thing of this kind upon your glass, or your sheet of blotting paper is not per- fectly clearly the imperfections will re- appear in your developed negative to the ruination of your photograph when you come to print. Only too often air », bubbles occur in the glass of the neg- ative, and these are extremely annoying, - to say nothing of being expensive, as ^ i^^nat you can never tell what part of your
picture they may render imperfect, or to say the least, distinctly marred. I use Seed's Gilt Edge plates (27) and consider them the best for my work, still air bubbles occur only too frequently in this fine plate of their manu- facture.
We are now ready to affix our specimen or specimens of shells to the aforesaid plate of glass. As I was using a 5x8 plate, I chose an 8x10 specimen glass for my purpose. The specimens are attached by the means 'of bees' wax or shoemakers' wax. This first warmed until it comes to be of the consistency of firm putty, it is then made up into little cylinders of various lengths and calibres.
COWRIC foORSAU ASPECT, NATURAL SIZE.)
Dr. R. JK Shu/eldt.
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These little stalks of wax have next their ex- tremities dilated into small circular disks of varying diameters to meet the purpose they are to serve. At one end, the disk is intended to be attached to the plane of glass, while the one at the other end supports the specimen. Your stalks of wax vary in length in order to bring the various sized shells into the same vertical plane, and thus avoid the danger of getting any single specimen out of focus, when there are a number of them to be photographed on the same plate at the same time as in Figure i.
Again, they vary in calibre according to the size and weight of your specimen, the big ones requiring the stouter supports.
We next carefully insert this pane of glass, sustaining the specimens in between the two strips of wood described above, making sure that it is very nearly or quite parallel to the blotting- paper background in its rear. With an open lens and no diaphragm, I now focus with the greatest accuracy upon the specimens, making sure that each one is perfectly sharp on the camera's ground-glass, and of the exact size of the specimens if so desired. The first require- ment is tested with a hand-lens, and the latter with a pair of sharp- pointed compasses. Make sure next about the light, and shadows, and re- flections Study all the prerequisites to success upon your ground-glass. See to it that the blotting-paper has no shadows upon it whatever. That the high lights upon 3'^our specimens are reduced to points, and are not broad lines of diffuse brilliant areas. These would all print pure ivhite when you come to make your photo- graphs. For example it will be seen in Fig. 2. I was so successful that I reduced the bright lines to the very minimum, they occurring only
SmRAL AND BIVALK BHKLLS 'flATUflAL SIZE.)
upon the prominent little ridges along the entrance to the aperture, while in Fig. 3, the dorsal view of the same specimen, all of the high lights center in one spot only — that a brilliant point, to the right of the vertical line in the lower third of the shell. There is where it belongs. This fine specimen I personally col- lected upon the Bahama Banks, thirty-five years ago. It has been kindly identified for me as Cyprcea exanthema cervuSy Linn., by Mr. Simpson, the distinguished conchologist of the U. S. Na- tional Museum, to whom I am likewise indebted for naming all of the other specimens for me illustrating the present paper. Having made perfectly sure that every thing is to your liking, there must now be inserted a very small dia- phragm, the size of its aperture depending a little upon the amount of light and the charac- ter of the specimens. Under most circum- stances twenty-five (25) seconds is not too long, if you are using a Seed's 27 gilt edge, and a slow working lens.
Many advantages are to be derived from the use of wax to attach the specimens to the glass plate. Its firmness and flexibility, and other qualities renders it an easy matter to move your shell after its attachment to a very con- siderable degree if necessary, in order to have it appear in your resulting picture exactly as you want it. In other words give your speci- mens the very outlines and aspects that you would select for them in scientific drawings. In the pretty spiral shell in Fig. 4, (Amphidro- mus cttrinus) from the Moluccas. I have given it a position in order to show all of its principal characters, viz., the form of the aperture; the chocolate brown stripe on the pure white shell faintly tinged with yellow; and even the two other stripes near the lip of the aperture, on thejother side, show through the semi- translucent shell. Its fellow in the same figure is a spec- imen of the Cardium unedo of Linnaius, and is found in the Central Pacific region. The fluted shell is pure white, spotted with red spots. Here I held the two halves of this shell up to- gether by the means of one piece of wax firmly attached to the glass-plate. As this article will undoubtedly be seen by many naturalists, as
Dr. R. W. Shu/eldt.
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The Photographic Times is widely read in that pro- fession, I will here give the names of the shells shown in Fig. i, as it will tend to make my work more complete and use- ful. If we take the small spotted shell in the upper left hand corner of the plate, it is a specimen of Colutnbella strombiformis^ Lam., from the west coast of Mexico. Now from this follow the specimens as we read the words on a page in a book from left to right (in the case of each line), and we have next (middle one of the top row) a specimen of Tivela planulaia^ Sowb. (west coast of Mexico); (3) Strotnbiispugilis, Linn, (young) (Florida) ; (4) Terebra dislocata^ Say., {^Florida ; ( 5 ) Cytherca gigantia^ Chemnitz (Flor- ida); (6) Vertagtis, verta- gus^ Linn. (Indo-Pacific); (7) tonus textile (Indo- Pacificl ; (8) Fasciolaria tulipa^ L. (central speci- men) (Florida?) (9) Tri- ton idea nudosa^ Linn, ( Indo- Pacific) ; and (10 and 11) Dolium perdix, Linn. (Florida, etc). These last ones are the large specimens at the lower left and right hand corners.
With respect to fossil shells, from their dull
color, it is not so necessary to be careful about the high lights on the shell when it is photo- graphed, and consequently we can pay more attention to the obtaining of uniform detail. This is well shown in the specimen Purpura floridana collected on Smith's Island, coast of Virginia, in 1899. This example is of a leaden
•TROMBUS BITABCflCULATUS.
^'X' J.
Dr. R. IV. Shu/eldt.
gray color, and exhibits no gloss whatever. In the matter of getting accurately colored pic- tures of shells, we can, of course, employ the now nearly successful three-color method, or we may print in light shades on ^. A. platinum paper and color by hand, for the use of the lithographer.
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Artists hereafter can say what they, will however, it is simply impossible to make the figure of a shell by hand alone, anything like as accurate in contour and all the min- utest of details as it can be done by photo- graphy. Take for example my two figures of the "Porgie conch (dorsal and ventral aspects) shown in Fig. 5, and it will be ob- served that they are not only of the actual size of the original specimens, but they are absolutely so much like them that it would seem almost possible to pick them up off the paper. Every little delicate line and spot, however minute, is faithfully reproduced, and the forms are perfect without one par- ticle distortion, a matter I have carefully tested with a delicate compass in all the principal diameters. The ventral surface of this shell is extremely glossy, and I found it quite impossible to entirely overcome the high lights, as will be seen in the figure, still the little that does show is by no means altogether unobjectional, as it is just sufficient enough to really indicate what the character of the surface is, and, moreover, it is what we see there in nature, and after all that is what a naturalist appreciates and wants, and artists comprehend and exact.
sus-FOSSiL SHKLL (fuhpura flohidana con.) natural sizk.
Fijc. 6, Dr. R. IV, Shuftidt.
PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUBS: THEIR FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT^
BY PERCY l.UND.
We have received frequent letters of late, regarding the formation and management of Gimera Clubs. Mr. Lund, editor of the Practical Photographer, England, recently sent us the following article on this subject, which he had pre- pared for the Amateur Photographer, England, and kindly gave us permission to use the same, which we gladly dc*, as we think it may benefit those who are seeking such information.
HOW it happens that some photo- graphic clubs flourish, whilst others planted on soil of a similar nature are always of weak growth and often wither away, is one of those anomalies for which no adequate reason can be assigned without a detailed investiga- tion of each specific case. But practical ex- amples are to be found all over the country. Here in one town is an active, enthusiastic body, whose members, collectively and indi- vidually, are doing excellent work ; there on the other hand is another club in an equally populated district, whose collective life is of a precarious and intermittent character, the mem- bers meeting now and then in a desultory fashion,
in a syllabus in which the pieces de resistance consist of trade demonstrations or the display of a heterogeneous collection of lantern slides.
Now some photographic societies are brought into existence by the wrong people, and thus labor under heavy drawbacks from the outset; drawbacks that frequently bring them to an untimely end. Others, like human beings, con- tract some malady or other during their life- time, perhaps of a lingering nature, that may or may not, sooner or later, terminate their ex- istence.
The question of the formation and manage- ment of photographic clubs is indeed one which ought to receive greater attention than it does at present, for everywhere evidences of the hap-
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hazard starting and maintenance of the club are conspicuously observable. Those who are forming new clubs rarely appear to consult older heads; it is small wonder therefore that among the numerous photographic societies in this country quite a large number may be truly said to lead a most useless existence, having the greatest difficulty to keep their members to- gether even by that most fatal of all baits, a low subscription, for a paltr}' charge is fatal in the sense that it attracts those who consider their purses first, and their enlightenment afterwards.
So great has been the spread of photography as a pursuit for its own sake, and also in an infinite number of applications for varied pur- poses (but chiefly as a means of recording), that from year to year the need for local gatherings among the fraternity is certain to become more and more intensified.
The formation and regulation of photo- graphic societies therefore ought to prove a topic of general interest, and I am so fre- quently asked for assistance in this direction, that partly with the desire of promoting the practice of photography, and partly in the hope of saving myself unnecessary correspondence, I have set down the substance which follows.
In forming a new club, the promoters of the enterprise should exert all their power towards securing the interest and co-operation of all classes. If the management fall entirely into the hands of working men and shopkeepers, affairs are pretty certain to go wrong, and the meetings to become disorderly. On the other hand, if the members are mostly drawn from aristocratic circles, exclusivenessis sure to creep in somewhere, while stagnancy will probably follow. Neither should the club be restricted to amateur photographers, but open to all, whether amateurs, professionals, manufacturers, or dealers To exclude any particular class not only paves the way for the establishment of rival institutions, but frequently involves leav- ing out the most useful and able men in the town. The broader the lines upon which an institution is formed, and the wider its doors are thrown open, the more likely is it to become prosperous, and by its genuine usefulness es- tablish an indisputable right to exist.
The two or three enthusiastic fellows who think a club is needed in their town should in the first place arrange for a meeting in some public room, and then write to the local papers announcing that a new photographic society is
proposed, and inviting all interested to attend. Special invitations should be sent by post to any gentlemen of position and influence who practice photography, with a view of nominat- ing them for some official capacity. The ex- pense of these preliminaries may be defrayed by a collection at the constitutional meeting, or carried forv^^ard as a first expense upon the new society.
For the preliminary meeting, secure the most businesslike chairman available, and to open the proceedings let the temporary secretary or one of his friends propose the formation of a photographic club. This motion having been seconded, the meeting is then open for a gen- eral discussion as to the advantages likely to accrue upon forming the club. Having allowed perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes for the mat- ter to be well talked over, the chairman may then put the proposal to the vote, and of course it is sure to be carried with unanimity. Then follows the election of a provisional com- mittee, and in this item of business the secre- tary and his friends should play an important part. Presumably they will be acquainted with most of those assembled, and able to pick out such men as are likely to make active members of the committee. They should lose no time in proposing them. This body with or without additions may be elected as a permanent com- mittee at a subsequent general meeting, and the officers also appointed by open voting; by a longer, though more satisfactory procedure, voting papers may be prepared, and the com- mittee and officers duly nominated and voted upon by ballot.
The committee, provisional or otherwise, being elected, the meeting may discuss in a general way suitable rooms for the club meet- ings, the best evening for the purpose, subjects for lectures or demonstrations, places for ex- cursions and other details, without determining any of these points finally, but merely issuing them as an indication of their views, of which the provisional committee will take careful note. The meeting can then terminate, but not until the provisional secretary has made entry of the names and addresses of all who wish to become members of the new club, so that he may notify to them the date of the next meeting.
An evening must also be fixed for calling together the provisional committee, who must get to work upon the rules, the subscription rates, the dates, place and hour of meeting, and
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the syllabus of the first session, together with many other things which will crop up as the business proceeds.
In regard to rules, I suggest the following, which may be modified or increased to meet local circumstances :
1. The organization shall be called the
Photographic Club.
2. The objects of the club shall be the pro- motion of knowledge relating to photography and its applications, and the mutual improve- ment, enjoyment, and recreation of its mem- bers.
3. The affairs of the club shall be controlled by the following officers and committee: A president, vice-president, a secretary, a trea- surer, and eight ordinary members of the com- mittee (five to form a quorum).
4. The whole of the officers and committee shall retire annually, but shall be eligible for re-election.
5. The annual general meeting shall be held in December. Nominations for the committee and officers shall be made seven days before this meeting. Voting shall be by ballot. The com- mittee shall have power to fill any vacancies in their ranks which may occur during the year.
Cari Wolff.
6. The meetings of the club shall be held on
evenings on the first and third of every month.
7. The annual subscription shall be payable in advance.
8. Subscriptions become due in December each year, and if not paid by January 31st, the members shall be considered to have resigned.
9. Each candidate for membership shall be proposed and seconded by two ordinary mem- bers of the club at any meeting. At the suc- ceeding meeting the candidate's name shall be voted upon, and he shall be elected provided .four out of every ^v^ present are in his favor.
10. A special general meeting may be con- vened by the committee giving seven days' notice in writing to each member.
11. The committee shall have power to deal with any business which may arise not already provided for in the rules.
12. No alteration of these rules shall be made except at a general meeting especially convened for the purpose.
Taking each rule seriatitn^ some of them re- quire a little explanation. In Rule 3, it may be observed that three vice-presidents and eight
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Joseph T, KeiUy.
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ordina.ry committeemen are suggested. These numbers may be increased or decreased accord ing to the needs of the society. If there are severa.1 good influential men in the town whose assistance in various ways might be desirable for the welfare of the club, then let the number of vice-presidents be increased to six or even more. The president should either be an in- fluential gentleman, or an able chairman, or both.
Coming now to Rule 6, assemblies fortnightly are quite frequent enough if the interest is to be efficiently maintained in the case of clubs where the membership is less than a hundred. Larger clubs may venture to meet once a week. The meetings should be as varied as possible — a lecture on one occasion followed by a practical demonstration on the next. The lectures ought to be about equally divided between popular or descriptive subjects, and those relating to technical or artistic matters. That is to say, if one lecture is upon the scenery of North Wales, the next might be upon principles of art as applied to photography, or the choice and use of lenses. But the committee will naturally be obliged to cut the garment of their syllabus according to the material at their disposal.
Some difficulty will doubtless arise, especially among newly formed clubs, in obtaining the services of efficient lecturers, for even if the home talent is strong (rarely the case), it is in- judicious to make excessive calls upon it. Two or three gentlemen from other districts should be courteously invited to appear before the so- ciety, but the invitations should be coupled with the offer of railway expenses and hospitality, if the distance is so great as to necessitate re- maining over night, and inquiries should con- tain a stamped envelope for the response. To be on friendly terms with kindred societies in neighboring towns is very advisable, for that may put the club in a better position so far as the syllabus is concerned, whilst joint excursion are occasionally advantageous from several points of view. If there are funds in hand, the committee might speculate on some well-known professional lecturer, arranging for a popular subject, and by securing a large hall aim at still further adding to the financial resources, and at the same time securing for the club greater recognition as a prominent and prosperous in- stitution.
And publicity whenever and wherever it can be obtained is very essential for the growth of the club, especially in its younger days, for no club will grow and prosper if its light be hidden under a bushel. Outsiders and beginners would rarely hear of its existence, so that new acces- sions to membership would be few and far be- tween while the stigma of exclusiveness would be pretty certain to be laid at its door.
Rule 7 heralds a discussion of the subscription question. This is a matter which must naturally be determined by the roll of members, and the cost of a room for meetings. But let me say, emphatically, that one of the worst mistakes a committee can make is to fix the fees too low, and I would add, that save under exceptional circumstances, five shillings per annum should be the minimum. The Israelites could not make bricks without straw, and no committee can pro- vide a comfortable room, and pay the expenses of qualified lecturers from a distance, with other incidental charges, without an efficient ex- chequer.
A nominal subscription drags in many whose interest in photography is very slight, and ef- fectively excludes all but the working class element. And five shillings is but five-pence per month, a sum within reach of any whose means permit them to take up the somewhat ex- pensive hobby of photography at all.
The business matters of the club are dis- charged by the committee. It is the duty of the members to see that an efficient committee is elected each year. Matters of business should not be discussed at the ordinary meetings of the club, but if any member has a question to ask or a suggestion to make relative to the manage- ment, the chairman should allow him to do so briefly, and then see that the secretary brings the matter up at the next committee meeting.
With a hint to the committee I will bring my observations to a close. Business meetings are often unduly prolonged by long discussions — usually the longest when concerning the most trival affairs. Where there is any specfal busi- ness to be dealt with, such as the arrangement for a conversazione, an exhibition, or excursions, it is advisable to delegate such business to a small sub-committee elected for the purpose, giving this sub-committee power to add to its* number
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She Purloined the Cross
I June
SHE PURLOINED THE CROSS.
A True Incident.
BY W. S. HASKELL.
A vS a general photographer, I have /\ come in contact with a good
/ % many people with strange ideas
/ % concerning picture taking. For instance : One day about noon, in the heat of a blazing sun, a man drove up to my studio in a great hurry and wanted a flash-light picture taken of his horse and j^^^^,, ^hc storm buggy immediately. He had seen my sign: "flash-lights, etc.," and took it for granted that it meant instantaneous daylight photo- graphy.
At another time I had just made an exposure for an out-of-door group, when one of the young ladies innocently demanded to be shown the negative at once, as she was in a hurry to catch the train.
But that's not a circumstance to an experience 1 had with an old Irish lady, while taking some views in a Catholic cemetery.
Just as I was doing up my tripod preparatory to leaving the grounds, the old lady came
Lantern Slides. Photographic Times Competition.
fohn Beeiy.
» BRUaCS-BCLGIUM
Lantern Slides. Photographic Times Competition.
waddling up to me and very brusquely in- quired.
** Be youz the phote-grapher ?"
" Yes, ma'am," 1 answered, " I am taking views."
** And would yez be after takin' aphote-graph o' the grave o' my darter Mary Ann — the blissed Vargin protect her sowl," said the old lady, crossing herself devoutly.
*' Certainly." I replied, * if you will kindly direct me to the grave."
I followed her to another part of the cemetery, and was shown a rather dilapidated looking grave, unmarked by any stone, but with a few geraniums strewn above.
After considerable haggling on the price, in which I was obliged to knock down one- third ; she gave me permission to go ahead and furnish her with half a dozen photo- graphs.
In taking the view I could not avoid including a large wooden cross belonging to another grave directly back of Mary Ann's. I thought if there was any objection I could screen off the cross in finishing.
A few days later I took the proof to the old lady's house half expecting that the cross would be a serious barrier to my sale. Judge of my surprise, when, on examining the proof, she confronted me with the following proposi- tion :
"And do yez see the cross back o' Mary Ann's grave ?"
" Yes," I said, beginning to make apologies.
" Ah, poor girl, she's desarvin'of a good cross — would yez mind, Mr. Phote-grapher, a-rubbin' out Michael Malone's name on the cross, and a puttin' the name o' Mary Ann instead ?"
I was nonplussed for a moment, but managed to say that it could be done quite easily,
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1900]
Oar Competitions
261
though I tried to dissuade her from the notion. The more I talked, the more she wanted the cross, and thinking it would do no serious harm, and vastly please the old lady, I at last consented.
When I brought her the finished pictures with Mary Ann neatly inscribed on the cross — the latter looking ex- actly as though it belonged to the grave — the old lady was delighted, and actually paid me my full price without a murmur.
I afterwards learned that she paraded the pictures be- fore her admiring friends, and ever pointed with pride, to the " illigant " cross above Mary Ann's grave.
UNDCR THE flM.
Lantern Slides. Photographic Times Competition.
Frank N. Lord.
OUR COMPETITIONS'
No. I. Lantern Slides. There were a very fair number of entries in this competition, and several of the sets were of excellent quality.
The judges awarded as follows :
SILVER MEDAT..
T. J. Preston, Jr., Orange, N. J.
BRONZE MEDAL.
Wm. D. Murphy, New York, N. Y.
HONORABLE MENTION.
John Beeby, New York, N. Y.
The judges also recommended that a bronze medal be awarded David Archibald for his ex- cellent set of lighting slides, which we have great pleasure in doing.
The slides submitted by Frank N. Lord, of Orange, N. J., were also highly commended. Some of the slides are shown in this number, but the reproductions do not begin to give the full quality or tones of the slides themselves. We shall in another number refer again critically to these slides.
COOLING OFF
Lantern Slides. Photographic Times Competition.
Frank N. Lord.
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262
Joseph Tl Keiley
[Junk
JOSEPH T. KEILEY.
BY J. C. ABEL.
A N eye for the ar-
l\ tistic, a brain
/ \ filled with
I % imagination, and a cun- ning hand ! Add to these a fifteen years* laboring with the incongruities of the cam- era, a steadfast devotion to his art and to its higher ideals, and in the resultant product we find a Joseph T. Keiley.
Mr. Keiley is probably known to the larger world of photographers more by his writings and criticisms than by his pictures, as these are seldom seen outside of the Camera Club, N. Y. and the yearly salons, and rarely in publica- tions. Mr. Keiley is not a maker of photo- graphs; he is the creator of pictures, of studies, if you will, as many of his pictures have an un- finished appearance, as if they were but the jottings for some greater work to be achieved later. Consequently the number of pictures he has to show is limited, but, for that same reason, his work is all the more forceful. Of course, there are many, probably the majority, who do not and would not care for or appreciate Keiley 's work. It is essentially for the few, nay more, for the highly trained few. He works— per- haps somewhat selfishly — to please his own sense of the beautiful, regardless of the desires of the many. The showy and garrulous picture has no place in his collection; he imparts a cer- tain self to his pictures, and a quiet, restful tone predominates.
His pictures work largely by suggestion, some even entirely so, to the utter bewilder- ment of the uninitiated. I recall a certain— I can scarce call it a picture — ** effect" hung at Mr. Keiley's recent exhibition at the Camera Club, N, Y. The upper half was of a soft, light gray, the lower half a soft gray of a darker shade — perfect tones, but the whole utterly without meaning to me. No outline, beyond the line near the center, dividing the light gray from the dark gray, and in each part the same evenness of tone throughout It was indeed a puzzle. I was unable at the time to get the author's personal explanation of the "effect"
but I understand it was a Japanese ren- dering of the sea. An onlooker said that h. a. Btasiey.
it reminded him of
the painting by Turner, or some other old master, entitled "Ship in a Fog." When the artist was asked where the ship was, he replied that it was in the fog, and consequently could not be seen. This one instance of Keiley's work is, however, merely an exaggeration and in no sense typical of his work, even though, as I said above, he attains his results largely by suggestion. Keiley has perfect mastery of the various meth- ods of controlling a print, and this gives him a pre-eminence in simple effects which would not otherwise be his. He will take a negative of a plain, with a soft sky, for instance, and expose a sheet of platinum paper under it. After de- veloping the same, he will show you a hilly country with, possibly, approaching storm- clouds. This in itself is not wonderful — prob- ably any one can do it— but it is the skilful rendering of the harmonies, the balancing of the lights and shadows that is so admirable.
Critics will never agree regarding Keiley's work. To some it will be intelligible, its truth will be apparent ; to others it will be mere emptiness, with a possible suggestion of a vague something beyond their grasp. To these his quiet tones will be an irritation, his occa- sional lack of outline a hook on which to hang their arguments against his work; but when all is said, we have in Keiley, one of the leading spirits in American photography, a road-builder of the future and a tireless worker after the higher and still semi-dormant pictorial photography.
Mr. Keiley modestly says that he is just be- ginning to do som-ething in photography — this after fifteen years well shows the earnestness of the man and his work.
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A COUflTICR.
Jostpk T. KeiUy.
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264
Lantern Slide Making
[Junk
LANTERN-SUDE MAKING FOR BEGINNERS.
BY *' PRIMROSE HILL."
VIIL— EXPOSING IN THE CAMERA.
Home-Made Apparatus.
4 LTHOUGH the camera method is gen-
/% erally used for includitig on the
/ % lantern plate a larger area of view
JT j^ than could be obtained by contact
methods, in fact, as a reduction
method, yet this by no means always is the
case. For we may, if we please, use it to give
us a larger image on the lantern plate than
could be got by contact. We shall, however,
assume that we are going to use this method
for including on our lantern slide all the view
obtained on, say, a half or whole plate negative.
And first, we shall describe three home-made
contrivances which any ordinary person can
knock together for himself with but very little
trouble and a shilling or two for material. The
first form to be described is suitable for town
dwellers who want to use daylight, and who
dwell among houses and chimneys. First, we
select a window which faces some point of the
Fio. I.
W— Window.
B B — Base-board, with slot S for camera screw.
N— Lid-like negative holder.
One end of the base-board is supported by a hinged T piece resting on floor. Other end is also hinged to bar, A A, which is supported by strings, K K, passing to curtain pole, P.
R R — Two rods from camera to negative holder.
sky where the sun is not at the time of our operations. Thus, for morning work, a west window, for afternoon an east window, and for any and all time a north aspect. Next we want a window whose glass panes are considerably larger than our largest negative, otherwise the sash bars will come in our way. Thirdly, we want a window from which we can get through its upper part a clear and uninterrupted view of the sky, />., clear of chimneys, trees, etc. Sup- pose, now, we have found such a window (WW, Fig. i). Our first step is to take a piece of wood about six inches longer than the width of the window, and about one inch thick, and two inches wide. Make a hole through each end, and about an inch from the end. Then by means of a piece of blind cord, knotted and passed through the hole and having its other end looped, we can suspend this piece of wood to the curtain pole. In the diagram, P is the curtain pole, K and K the two pieces of blind cord supporting A A. Our next need is our base-board, BB. The width of this should be an inch or so more than the length of our largest negative. It may be about three-quarter inch in thickness. Its length will depend upon two factors, the focal length of the lens, and the. size of the largest negative. One example will suffice. If our largest negative be whole-plate (we may call this 8x6 for ease of reckoning), and our lens be of six inch focus, then we shall re- quire a base-board of a little more than thirty inches, say a yard, for working convenience.
Next we require a negative-holder. This is of thin wood, and shaped like a lidless shallow box; but out of the bottom is cut a hole just large enough to take the negative, which slides in two small grooved cross pieces. This nega- tive-holder is fixed on to one end of the base- board, as shown at N. Next we cut along the center of the base-board a slot to admit the camera screw so that we can fix the camera to the board at any position. In the figure we show the end of the slot, S, just at the back of the camera, C. One end of the base- board is attached to AA by means of holes and blind cord. These are not shown in the figure, but may easily be imagined. The base-boarJ, BB, rests on A A at this end, and the cords here are tightly tied, so as * to prevent the window being broken. The other end of B is supported by a hinged T piece, and rests on the floor. It is convenient to adjust the heights of T so that the operator may be seated saddle-wise across a kitchen chair, so that the chair back is against
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Lantern Slide Making
265
T, and prevents it being kicked. Unless the camera, C, is of the same size as the negative, N, it must be provided with a rising front. We may now assume that focusing has been done. We now have at hand a couple of light wooden rods, such as are used for the bottoms of blinds. The ends of these rods, RR, rest on the top of the camera and negative-holder. The focusing cloth is thrown over the rods. This shields the lens from any light, except that passing through the negative, N. Exposure is made by slipping the hand under the focusing cloth and uncap- ping the lens, or what is better still, by shutter and pneumatic ball.
The second form of apparatus is especially convenient where we can have reflected day- light. It can also be used with reflected artificial Galley 2 — Lantern-slide making for beginners, lights, gas, magnesium, or lamps (for artificial lighting see a subsequent chapter). Anyone who can have the use of a room with good top light — such, for instance, as an ordinary con- servatory— will find this method particularly suitable. It can, of course, be used out of doors — even in very confined situations — as all we need is a bit of sky light overhead.
First is our base-board, A A, perhaps four feet long and eight inches wide, according to size of negative, focus of lens, and so on. Next is the negative-holder. As in last figure, this is a lidless box with a hole in the bottom, carrying the negative in grooves. This is shown as D, and by means of an imaginary hole made in its side we get a glimpse of a corner of the negative, N. Beyond this, we have a large sheet of white cardboard, w^hich acts as a reflector. This is held at an angle of forty-five degrees to the horizontal plane by a light wood frame, S, D and R are not fixed to the base-board, but can
CONQIIC8SSIONAL LIBRARY. T.J. Prtston.Jr.
Lantern Slides. Photographic Times Competition,
slide freely to and fro. In this case we will suppose we are using a quarter-plate camera, C, for making slides from a 7 by 5. Thus, in order to get the optical axis of the lens exactly opposite the center of the negative we must
Lantern Slides. Photographic Times Competition.
fohn Beeby.
FIG. 2 '
A A — Plank of wood.
B B— Several small flat blocks.
D D — Lidless box, open towards lens. A hole in side
C — Small camera with lens, of this box shows N, the negative, fixed in opposite end.
R R — Sheet of white card, or reflector, supported by S, a stand.
raise our camera up above the base-board. This we may conveniently do by means of various flat pieces of wood, as at BB. It will be found better to have several pieces of different thicknesses rather than one thick piece, as this enables us to get the lens opposite various parts of the negative, as may be required. For the general arrangement of the holder of the reflect- ing card the reader may consult the corre- sponding part of Fig. 3. It may here be mentioned, also, that when a strong side light is available and not a top light, all one need do is to turn the reflector on its side. But experience shows that nothing is so good as a good top sky light.
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Lantern Slide Making
[JUNE
The third form, shown in Fig. 3, is very similar to the second in general outline. But it has one point which should be especially noted by users of the hand camera. In this latter form of camera one often gets bits of architecture
FIG. 3.
S B — Slotted bar with focusing screw towards B.
R R — Arrangement to hold sheet of card as reflector at 45 deg. with the horizontal base.
T T— Light rod passing through ring, T, in top of camera front.
where the swing back has not been vertical, and consequently the buildings do not appear as truly vertical. Contact printing in the case is out of the question, as the slide would, of course, repeat the evil of the negative. Hence the third form of apparatus. Here, as before, we have the base-board, M. But in this case our nega- tive-holder is simply a flat piece of wood with a hole cut out large enough to show the print- ing size of ths negative. This is held in posi- tion either by small turn-buttons or by grooved strips as before. Now this negative-holder differs from the other two forms inasmuch as it is hinged to the base-board By means of a slotted side bar or strut, S, and a turn-screw at B, the negative-holder can be fixed at any required angle. As before, light is sent through the negative by means of a reflecting sheet of white card (not shown), which is held in a suitable positions by means of R, the holder. Two small light rods rest their ends on the top of the nega- tive-holder and pass through two metal rings in the top of the front of the camera. As in the first described form, the focusing cloth is thrown over these rods, and so cuts out side light from the lens.
Now, why this hinged negative-holder ? The answer is, that by swinging the negative and
also the back of the camera containing the lantern plate, we can compensate for the error of not having the back of the hand camera ver- tical. In short, we can thus restore to a sober and vertical position architecture which is often in this state described as drunken. As in the case two, also in case three, we can use top day (sky) light, or if preferred, some of the various forms of direct or reflected artificial light.
Here is a formula and table derived there- from. These do not seem to have found their way into print before, and therefore may prove useful to those about to construct or buy appar- atus of the form just mentioned:
Supposing then, / to be the focal length of the lens, and / the long side of the negative. It is requifed to know the length of base-board, />., d^ distance from negative to lantern plate, which will reduce / to three inches on the slide The formula is:
(/+3)* d=/ .
3/.
In words this reads — Add 3 to the length of plate (/), square this number, multiply it by focal length of lens (/), and divide the result by 3 times length (/) of the plate.
Table showing the length of Base-board for Reducing
standard sizes of Negatives to a 3 inch image
on Lantern Plate.
|
Long Side of Plate. |
||||||
|
Focus of Lens. |
4 |
64 |
7k |
81 |
10 |
la |
|
4 |
I6I |
18I |
20 |
20l 26| |
22i |
25 |
|
5 |
20 |
23 |
30} |
28 |
3ii |
|
|
6 |
2 + |
29 |
32 |
34 |
37 |
|
|
7 |
32i |
36 |
37 |
39i |
44 |
|
|
8 |
41 |
42 |
45 |
50 |
||
|
10 |
53 |
561 |
62 |
|||
|
12 |
75 |
|||||
|
4 -plate i -plate |
I |
-I -plate 8ix6i |
||||
|
4ix3j |
61x4! |
7ix5 |
iox3 |
I2XIG |
For example — How long a base-board is needed for making slides from whole-plate negatives with a 7 -inch lens ?
In the ** focus of lens" column find No. 7, and on the top find 8)4 inches. Where these columns meet is No 37. This is the length re- quired
( To be continued.)
Digitized by
ZIT-KALA.
Jostpk r. Ksiiey.
Digitized by
268
Early History of 'Photography
[June
INQUIRY INTO EARLY HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY.
{Continued from page 206.) Application of Heliograph ic Processes.
•• The varnish employed being applicable to stone, metal, or glass without in any way altering the process, I will speak only of its application to silver plateor glass, remarking, however, in reference to its use for engrav- ing on copper, that a little wax dissolved in oil of lavender may be added to the varnish.*
** Up to the present a silver plate, from its white color and brightness, after washing, provided that the picture has been dried, a very fair result is obtained. But it would be better, if by blackening the silver plate, the various gradations of light and shade could be repre- sented. I, therefore, devoted my attention to this ques- tion, using, at first, liquid sulphide of potassium. But this re-agent attacks the varnish when concentrated and only reddens the metal when dilute, so that I have aban- doned its use, and now use iodine with the prospect of better success, which is easily vaporized at the ordinary temperature, f
** In order to blacken a plate by this process it is only necessary to place it against one of the sides of a box (open above) placing a few fragments of iodine in a small groove made on the opposite side at the bottom of the box. The top of the box is covered with a piece of glass through which the change, which takes place slowly but steadily can be watched. The varnish can afterwards be removed with alcohol, leaving no trace of the first trace of the process. As this method is quite new to me I will only mention this simple plan until further experiment shall have enabled me to give a more detailed description.
*• Two attempts at direct pictures in the camera have given me results which, though far from perfect, may be referred to as indicating the perfection to which this method of applying my discovery may be brought.
** In one, the light having acted with less intensity, affected the varnish so as to render the gradations of the picture much more pronounced, so that the print, ex- amined by transmitted light, reproduced, to a certain extent, the effects known as the diorama.J
•* In the other, on the contrary, on which the action of the light was more intense the lightest parts, not having been attacked by the solvent, remained transparent, and the gradation of the print resulted only from the rela- tive thickness of the more or less opaque film of varnish. If the print is viewed by reflection, in a mirror, from the vanished side, and at a certain angle, it gives an excel.
* Note by M. Dag^erre : It may be noted that the eofirraving of which M. Ni^pce speaks was always made on a sensitized plate exposed in contact with a print, and that the use of the wax to which he refers would have neutralized the effect of the decomposition of the bitumen n the camera where the lipht is very weak; the presence of the wax did not, however, interfere with the copyinf? of enfi^ravings, which he ex- posed for three or four hours to direct sunlight.
[Note.— In Daguerre's Historiqucy the word for brightness {eclat) is eiven as Hat. Fouque gives the obviously correct reaaing as above- Eos. Tht Photogram.^
+ Note by M. Daguerre : It is important to note the use of iodine thus made by M. Nidpce for blackening his plates proves that he was not aware of the property which this substance possesses, when brought into contact with silver, of undergoing decomposition in light; on the contrary he gives it here as a metnod of fixing his prints.
X Note by M. Daguerre: M. Daguerre fails to see what connection there can be between the effect mentioned here by M. Nitfpce and the pictures of the diorama.
lent effect, whilst, examined by transmitted light, it ap- pears only dim and confused; what is most surprising is that it appears to reproduce the colors of certain ob- jects.* In thinking over this remarkable phenomenon I have concluded that it is connected with the theory ad vanced by Newton on colored rings. It may be sup- posed, for instance, that a green ray acting on the varnish and combining with it, confers upon it a degree of solubility, such that the film, left after solution and washing, reflects green color. Experiments must show the truth, if any, of this hypothesis, but the fact strikes me as sufficiently interesting to demand further re- search.
Observations.
"Although there is really no difficulty in the process which I have just described, it sometimes happens that success does not attend the first attempt. It is best, therefore, to commence on a small scale, copying en- gravings in diffused light according to the following simple process :
*• Varnish the engraving on the back so as to make it translucent. When quite dry, lay the face upon the varnished plate by the help of a glass, the pressure of which can be reduced by inclining it at an angle of 45 deg. With two engravings prepared as above and four small plates of silver many exposures can be made in the course of a day. even in dull weather, provided that the place of exposure is protected from cold and damp, which, as I have already said, affects the varnish to such an extent that it leaves the plates in layers when the solvent is used. Owing to this fact I cannot use the camera in bad weather. After a few experiments, such as I have described, skill in the process will soon be attained, f
'* In reference to the method of applying the varnish, I must repeat that it must be used of only such con- sistency as to form a film compact but as thin as possi- ble ; it thus best resists the action of the solvent and is more sensitive to light.
**As regards using iodine for blackening, as also when using acid for engraving on copper, it is necessary that the varnish, after washing, shall be as described in the second experiment on glass, above quoted, for it is then least penetrable by iodine or by acids,:{ principally in the parts where it has retained its transparency, and it is only in this way that success can be expected even with the most perfect optical appliances, g Addition.
•• The varnished plate, when set to dry, must be pro- tected from light as well as from damp.
* Note by M. Daguerre : M. Daguerre has often noticed this color- ation and he has never considered it as the result of colored rays in the camera.
t Note by M. Daguerre : The observations made in these experi- ments, cannot be applied to the results obtained in the camera. The effect of li^ht reaching the sensitive body through an engraving (especially if it is varnished) is different to that which is responsible for the formation of the image in the camera obscura.
X Note by M . Daguerre : The print which was the origin of this statement was exposed to light in the camera and although M. Nitfpce refers here to iodine for blackening and acid for etching, copper being presumably meant, these two operations would have been given no gradation of tones. As a matter of fact the image was obtained by the in-eater or lesser thickness of varnish corresponding to the action of Rghi on the film, and it is impossible for the acid to act in the same way. Neither did M. Nidpce ever make an engraved plate by direct exposures in the camera.
I Note by M. Daguerre : The best optical apparatus cannot alter the fart noted above. Chalons-s-s. 24 November, iSa^.— J. N. Ni^pce.
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1900]
Early History of ^Photography
269
H^. E. Dunmore.
Exhibition of the Royal
Photographic Society^ Londofiy i8gg.
•• In mentioning the experiments made in diffused light I have said nothing as to doing this on glass : I may, therefore, add it. The process consists in merely backing up the glass with black paper, placing a frame between the varnished side of the plate and the engrav- ing which should have been previously firmly mounted upon a similar frame. In this way the image appears more vigorous than on a white ground— a fact which in- creases the rapidity — whilst the varnish is not exposed to damage by contact with the engraving, as in the other process, a mishap which may easily occur in warm weather, however the varnish may be dried.
•* But this disadvantage finds compensation in the prop, erty possessed by the prints on silver plates of resisting the action of washing since it not infrequently hap- pens that this operation more or less spoils the prints on glass owing to the fact of its highly polished surface oflfering Httle adherence to the varnish. A remedy for this defect would be to give greater adhesiveness to the varnish, and this can be done — at least if I may judge from some few and quite recent experiments. The new varnish consists of bitumen of Judaea dissolved in Dip- pel's animal oil which is allowed to evaporate at ordinary temperatures until the required degree of consistency is reached. It is more unctuous, tenacious, and more highly colored than the other. Hence, after it has been applied it can be exposed to the light, which appears to
solidify it more rapidly, owing to the great volatility of the animal oil causing it to dry much more quickly."' 5 December, 1829. — J. N. Ni^pce.
Received of M. Niepce, the duplicate of the present *• Note." — Daguerre.
There is no record of the disclosures made by Daguerre to Niepce but the two experimenters kept up an exchange of ideas until Niepce's death on July 5th, 1833. This is shown by Niepce's letters to Daguerre, extracts of which are here translated from Z' Historique et de- scription des precedes du Daguerreotype et du Diorama, Thus on June 24th, 1831, Nidpce wrote :
I confine myself for the moment to answering your letter of the 21st because, being occupied with the ex- periments on iodine, I am anxious to let you know the results. Before our partnership I had made these same ex- periments but without hope of success in face of the, to me, almost utter impossibility of fixing the images even when the lights and shadows had been recorded cor- rectly. In this respect these results confirmed those
♦ Note by M. Daguerre : This process is still more unsatistactory in point of securing pure white.
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270
Early History of Photography
[June
made with oxide of silver, and the greater rapidity of these two substances appears to be their only advantage. However, since you left here I have made another series of exp)enments, using iodine in a different way. Your reply, when I acquainted you with the results, con- vinced me of inadvisability of doing more in that direc- tion.
On January 29th, 1832, he wrote to Daguerre:
To the substances which according to your letter re- semble iodine in their action on silver, you may add a decoction of th I as pi ^ vapor of phosphorus, and es- pecially sulphides. It is principally to the presence of the
latter in the substances that the results are due I
am no longer using iodine in my experiments except as a means of comparing the relative rapidity of my prepara- tions In regard to iodine I beg you to say how you
use it: if in solid.
Note by Daguerre.— This sentence of M. Ni^pce's will show, I hope, the most prejudiced that it was I who indicated iodine, not as a means of blackening certain parts of a design already made, but for producing the sensitive film upon which the photogenic image was to be impressed.
On March 3rd, 1832, Ni^pce wrote to Da- guerre again asserting the hopelessness of any process depending on metallic oxides. After
his death there are no particulars of further labors of Daguerre recorded until Arago made known the process before the Academic des Sciences on August 19th, 1839, and which is published in the Comptes Rendus of the Acad- cmie. Arago's address is an enthusiastic eulogy of Daguerre's process. Footnotes in the printed report of it in the Comptes Rendus give the details of the procedure. These are quoted :
•* In the process to which a grateful public has given the name Daguerreotype the film upon which the pic- ture is impressed is golden yellow and is produced when a silver plate is placed for some time in the upper part of a box upon the bottom of which a few fragments of iodine are laid to spontaneously volatilize.
No trace of image is to be seen on this plate when it is removed from the camera obscura. The yellowish film of iodine of silver, which has received the image, still appears quite uniform.
But if the plate is exposed in a second box to a stream of mercury vapor rising from a dish in which the liquid is heated by a spirit lamp to 75 per cent, the most re- markable result is produced. It deposits itself plenti- fully to those parts of the surface which have been ex- posed to bright light but does not adhere to the unex-
•Orr BLOWS the wind that BIICATHCt FROM YONOCR BKICt.'
G, W, Norrit, M.D.
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Early History of Vhotography
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posed parts; whilst to the portions which repre- sent the half-tones it affixes itself in greater or less quantity proportional to the action of light upon these parts. By the light of a candle the operator can follow, step by step, the gradual formation of the image: the mercury vapor can be seen to trace the details of the image as though it were a brush of exquisite delicacy.
The image of the camera thus reproduced, the further action of the light must be arrested. M . Daguerre does this by moving the plate in hyposulphite of soda, afterwards washing it with warm distilled water.
According to M. Daguerre, it is better to pro- duce the image on a plate of copper covered with silver than on a silver plate. This fact, if correct, would suggest that electricity plays a part in these curious phenomena.
The surface of the plate should be first rubbed down with pumice stone and cleaned with dilute nitric acid. The useful part which the acid thus plays may be due, as M. Pelouze suggests, to its removing the last molecules of copper.
Although the thickness of the film of iodide of silver is probably (according to measurements by M. Dumas) not more than one millionth of a millimetre in thickness. It is necessary, for the perfect gradation of lights and shadows, that this thickness should be the same all over the plate. M. Daguerre prevent more iodine getting to the edges than to the center by putting a tongue of the same metal round the plate about six millimetres broad and fixed by nails to a wooden shelf which carries the whole ; but the action of this tongue cannot be satisfactorily explained at present.
Another equally perplexing fact is as follows: If it is desired that the image appears best in the usual posi- tion of pictures— />.. in a vertical position — the plate must be exposed to the upward vertical stream of mercury vapor at an angel of 45 deg., and if the plate is horizon- tal at the moment of the precipitation of the mercury, it must be examined at an angle of 45 deg. to obtain the best effect.
In attempting to explain this singular process of M. Daguerre the idea immediately suggests itself where the light reaches the plate in the camera, it produces vaporization of the iodine; that the metal is bared in this spot, and that during the next part of the process the mercury vapor has full access to the plate and pro- duces a white and lusterless amalgam; that the washing with hyposulphite chemically removes those portions of the iodine not removed by light, with the result that the bare and mirror-like parts are left behind and produce the shadows of the picture.
But this theory offers no solution of the existence of the splendidly graduated half-tones occurring in M. Daguerre *s pictures. A single fact, too, will prove that the process is not so simple. The plate does not per- ceptibly gain weight after coating with its yellow film of iodide. The increase in weight is, however, quite ap- preciable when the plate is treated with mercury. M. Pelouze has ascertained that after washing in hyposul- phite the plate weighs less than it did originally in spite of the presence of some amalgam. The hyposulphite
H. T.J. PrestOM./r.
Lantern Slides. Photographic Times Competition.
therefore removes some silver and the chemical examin- ation of the liquid shows that this is the case.
In order to account for the action of light conc^n^d in M. Daguerre *s process, we may assume that the silver plate becomes covered, during exposure to the mercury', with particles of amalgam; that these particles are close together in the high lights, are less crowded in the half- tones, and absent from the shadows.
The conjecture of the physicist has been confirmed. M. Dumas has observed by means of the microscope that the lights and half-tones consist of particles, the diameter of which he gives, so does also M. Adolphe Brongniast, as almost entirely 1/800 of a millimetre, still the reason for inclining the plate at an angle of 45 deg. during exposure to the mercury, remains to be ex- plained. This inclination — assuming its necessity, as stated by M. Daguerre — would suggest that millions of beautiful pictures will perhaps be made by Daguerre's process before its action is completely explained."
Daguerre it will thus be seen used iodide ot silver as his sensitive material. It seems reasonable to suppose that he took the sugges tion of iodizing silver plates from Ni^pce's ex periments. This seems the natural deduction from the existing evidence. The discovery of mercury as a developer has been stated — on what grounds does not appear — to have been the result of an accident. Even were this the case Daguerre deserves all the credit of taking advantage of and applying the chance occur-
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Bicycle Camera Carrier
fJUNB
ance whereby his under-exposed plates were developed. With the further improvements in the process along its own lines we do not propose treating in this place, our present object being to show as far as possible in the words of the discoverers, the part played by each in the evolution of photography. We may therefore turn to Fox Talbot.
(To be continued, ^
BICV^CLE CAMERA CARRIER.
BY GEORGE S. CURRIE.
T
double larger
HE accompanying cuts are self-explan- atory. The boxes, one each side of the frame of the bicycle, have each room for six plate-holders, and are made j\ inches than the holder is wide. Two pieces of felt, one inch wide are glued to the front end of the box, the brass spring at the opposite end holds each plate firmly in place. I find that whether there is one or six holders in the box, they " stay put." The material used was white oak, quartered, sawed. My camera and case, which straps on the bracket in front of the head, will hold nine double plate-
BICYCLC CAMERA CARRIER.
holders, and when the whole outfit is loaded with three and a half dozen plates, the estimated weight is under lo lbs., not a load on the wheel. It takes but a few seconds to put it on, and it is held firmly in place by the cam and block as shown.
The camera case is preferably lined with thick pads of felt to deaden concussion, a pad at the top and at the bottom being sufficient. I have found this device to be the best for photo- graphing awheel, and I recommend it to other enthusiasts.
Scale J-/^
'^prm^ to Areep
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Journal of the Photographic Society of Phila- delphia^— Febftiarjr and March*
In this number, Mr. Prescott Adamson's lec- ture on " Platinotype Toning" is given in full together with the debate on the same, from which we take the following :
Platinotype Toning, by Prescott Adamson.
The sepia tone is produced by developing in the bath for the black paper, to which mercuric chloride has been added. The two solutions needed are. first, the usual platinotype developing salt, dissolved in 50 oz. water; and second, a solution of i part bichloride of mercury in 25 parts water. On account of the varying solubility of this reagent, it is very inadvisable to use a saturated solution.
One part of this mercury solution is mixed with eight parts of the developer, and the bath is ready. The print is floated and developed in the regular way, and then placed in a hydrochloric acid bath, made by diluting the usual bath (i part acid, S. G. 1.16, to 60 parts of water) with 4 parts water, making a bath of i to 300. On test- ing the wash waters it was found that after three wash- ings in this strength of acid, all the iron had been re- moved.
Should an acid bath of the usual strength be taken, it will cause the tone to rapidly fade out. A rather flatly made print, whether overprinted or from other causes, can be made to look well, as the process seems to coun- teract flatness. This, in itself, is a good point, without regard to the color of the print.
The question has been asked, ** Is this color perman- ent ?" I think it is. 1 have one print that has been sub- jected to daylight for a long time. It was framed and hung near a window for three years, and although the wall paper around the frame shows signs of fading, no difference could be seen in the tone of the print.
The uranium bath is generally used in connection with the mercury toning just described. However, a black print can be toned to a sepia brown or red by simply immersing it in the uranium bath, but the toning is very slow.
The best way to use this bath is to develop the exposed print in the oxalate developer, to which is added only half the streng^th of mercury that is used for septa toning. By this development it acquires a faint sepia, being then well washed in the weak acid
bath, and later in water. It is then toned in the follow- ing bath :
zo per cent, solution uranium nitrate 2 drams.
10 per cent, solution ferricyanide of potassium . 2 drams.
Acetic Acid i dram.
Water 10 oz.
The tone will go into a deeper sepia and various shades of brown and red. Almost any shade desired can be obtained, this toning being fairly rapid.
I would urge that no one put the hands in these ton- ing solutions. This applies to both the mercury and the uranium baths, for they are both extremely poisonous, and attack the skin. I found that one hand protected with rubber finger stalls was ample protection, and there is no necessity for these solutions touching the hands.
We now come to local toning. The local toning it- self is very easily accomplished, but when one tries to combine two colors harmoniously it will require, first, that the negative be of such a character as lends itself to two colors — and you will find very careful selection is necessary, for not many do this. This is really the most important point in local toning.
Second, the graduation of the two colors must be well balanced, so they merge one into the other. Try to paint a water color in but two colors, and you will appreciate the difficulty encountered in this work. If the two colors do not harmonize, and good taste is not exercised, the result is entirely without artistic value . But this toning has a future for those who will work at it from an artistic standpoint.
One method is as follows : The undeveloped print is covered over entirely with a thin coating of glycerine, well rubbed in, and the surplus removed by a blotter. When the coating of glycerine is perfectly even, a brush is dipped in a mixture of equal parts glycerine and the mercury developer. Almost all of this must be removed from the brush, leaving only sufficient to work with, as there is no way of doing good work with a surplus on the brush. The portions to be toned are brushed carefully until the image appears, at which point it is quickly plunged into the black developer, and all portions, ex- cept the brush work, will come up in black. It is well to go over the surface with a wad of cotton, while in the bath, to ensure even toning. It is then washed in a weak acid bath, and finally in water.
Now, it is not necessary that this local application of the mercury developer should produce the correct tone. It is only necessary that it be applied where the tone is needed. Should the tone not be what is wanted, or
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Our Monthly Digest
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THC OLOW OP tUMMEII NOON."
/. C S. Mummery.
Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society y London ^ i8gg.
should it fade in a too strong acid bath, the correct tone can be readily obtained by usir.g the uranium bath. This will not only give the mercury sepia color, but it will also give any deeper shade required. Some of the prints here were left in the acid bath until of an even black all over, but they immediately took the sepia locally when placed in the uranium bath .
The brush used for this mercury toning must not be used when black tones are required.
To produce the local uranium tone, after completing the above work, the print is immersed in the uranium bath, and the portions covered with mercury will soon tone to the color desired. Should it be too deep a weak solution of sodium carbonate will reduce the color, but a little acetic acid should be added to the wash water if soda is used. In fact, as the water is usually alkaline, it is a very good idea to always use a little acetic acid in the wash- ing, for an alkaline water will soon wash out the color.
** Photo Mechanics,^' by Charles R. Pancoast.
The first thing one should get would be a tool handle, that is, a handle containing a number of small tools, awls, chisels, screwdrivers, and so on. For small screws there is nothing better than a large sized awl . The next thing a person needs is a small bottle of Le Page's glue, with a good supply of light but strong string, then a number of small screws which might be described tech- nically as ]^ inch No. i, and | and ^ inch No. 2. These should be of brass, so as not to rust. With these few things, a good penknife and possibly an old kid glove, one
should be prepared to make quite a number of repairs.
We will suppose that for some reason or other a tripod leg is broken. The first thing to do is to find a piece of wood and make two splints to go on either side of the broken leg. Scrape off all the varnish with the pen- knife, put the two ends together and place the splints on, after covering them with glue; then take the string and tie them firmly together; allow it to set, and the leg will probably be as strong as ever. Or, if you like, you may put a few screws in. The best material to lubricate a wood screw is beeswax; heat the screw until the wax flows in the threads, and it may be driven into hard wood with comparatively little danger of splitting.
Suppose we have a bellows with a hole in it; the open- ing in the bellows where the light comes in can be located by simply drawing the bellows to its bellows to its fullest extent, keeping the shutter closed and drawing the focus- ing cloth closely about your face, and then pointing the camera towards the sun. Probably you will soon a little gleam of light coming through; and after you have thus located it, it is a very simple matter to cut a little piece from the old kid glove before mentioned and glue it en.
A sky shade for the lens can be made from a small cardboard box, with a hole in the bottom for the lens to fit in and a square hole in the top to go in front of the lens, acting as a diaphragm, keeping off reflections. It sometimes happens that you break a ground glass. No better substitute can be had than a piece of mat-surface celluloid film. For finders this celluloid is vastly su- perior to ground glass, because with ground glass the
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reflections from the top surface interfere with the image, which does not happen with celluloid.
In case it is desired to experiment with smaller sized plates than the holders calls for, kits can be made very easily out of cardboard.
When photographing on an asphalt pavement or a marble floor, the legs of the tripod may be kept from spreading by cords, which are wedged into notches in a block of wood.
Wilson's Photosftaphic Masfazine — ^Apt il.
The discussion on old vs. new methods in por- traiture is closed in this issue, with no particular decision arrived at. The old style professional either claims that the new style professional only works in that way because of his lack of train- ing and technique, or else claims that he also (the old style man) can do new style work when the occasion requires, only that there is no money in it, in both of which claims, the old style professional is wrong. R. Hessing writes on "Novelties;" R. F. Turnbull on "Control in Printing;'* F. Rankin on "Prints on Fabrics;" John Tennant on "Lines;" and the new Falk Studio is well described and illustrated.
** Novelties,^ by R. Hessing.
About the time of the Russian vignette a *' secret pro- cess " was exploited by a Frenchman. It was his inten- tion to sell the secret, but for some reason the scheme fell through. These pictures were also of a good size, and are somewhat difficult to describe, inasmuch as they had the appearance of great softness, or rather, lacking in sharpness; yet, when closely examined; they seemed to be perfectly sharp. They were exceeding bold and vigorous, and had the look of being on porcelain rather than on paper.
There were at the time, as may be supposed, a num-
LIOHTNINQ.
D. Archibald.
AT TMC •RIOOC.
Frank N. Lord.
Lantern Slides. Photographic Times Competition.
Lantern Slides. Photographic Times Competition.
her of suggestions as to how they were produced. One was— and that was the one that received the greatest credance as being the right one — that two negatives in exact duplicate, were taken, each being developed only to half the usual density. The two negative* were then placed the one upon the other, the prints being made from this compound negative. Another suggested plan was that the plate was coated on both sides with a thin collodion so that while the image on the front of the glass was perfectly sharp that on the back was, of course, out of focus. One plan that was suggested was to make, say, half the exposure with the lens at its sharpest focus, a quarter with it racked a little outside the focus, and the remaining quarter with it a little within it.
Here is a method by which pictures, equal in effect to Denier's were produced, and it answered well even with negatives not specially taken for the purpose. It was to print in the usual way until the print was about half- done, and then interpose two or three sheets of trans- parent gelatine, or a thin piece of glass, between the paper and the negative, and then cantinue the printing to the proper depth. By varying the depth of printing before its introduction, and the thickness of the inter, vening media, a great variety of effects can be obtained. Such a plan is simplicity itself, little more than a •* dodge" but sometimes simple things bring success.
'* Control In Printing,** by Ralph F. TurnbuIL
To hold back the thin parts of a negative during printing I take a little Prussian blue water color— that sold in collapsible tubes. Squeeze a little color onto a plate, and with the end of a finger dab some of it over the back of the negative where it is too thin. With a little piactice an even tint can be obtained on it can be blended or graduated as required. The landscape photographer who gets a sky full of pinholes may sometimes save himself much tedious spotting by work- ing in a few judiciously placed clouds over the worst nests of pinholes. Squeeze out small dabs of paint on the back of the negative where clouds are required. Dab carefully over the space where the white cloud is to be, then wipe the finger- tip on a clean rag, and very
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LANDtCAPC.
/ose/A T. KeiUy.
carefully dab along the edges of the clouds to soften and blend them into the darker sky. By wiping the finger as often as required, more or less of the paint is taken from the glass, and so any desired depth of half- tint is secured. In portrait work a dark background may be faked in this way. A negative treated in this way should always be printed under one or more thick- nesses of tissue paper.
Tissue paper may be used instead of the blue paint, and its possibilities should be more fully understood. In a negative with strong contrasts, if there is any de- tail at all in the shadows, and if the light parts are not hopelessly dense, much may be done. I place such a negative in a retouching frame, and over the glass side of it stretch a piece of tissue. With a pencil 1 trace on the tissue the outlines of the deepest shadows and cut the tissue so that these shadows only are masked. A second piece of tissue is cut to cover shadows which are not quite as near bare glass; this second tissue also covers the first one, so that the thinnest part of the
negative is shaded by two thicknesses of paper. In this way I gradually build up to my high-lights, which are left uncovered. 1 may require as many as five or six pieces of tissue to get the most gradation possible, but it is well spent labor, for many a negative is usable after being papered, which would without it be hopelessly hard.
Photo Beacon*— May*
"Artistic Landscape Photography," by John A. Hodges, is continued and grows more inter- esting and instructive with each instalment, J. C. Komdorfer describes with diagrams " How to Make an Electric Dark-Room Lamp"; B. W. Douglass gives his reasons " Why I Title my Pictures," but his argument is not a persuasive one, and we do not think that most will agree with him when he says that " the title of a pho-
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MEAD IT AGAIN ■
A. H olden.
should be so dark that the lUuminant employed for en- larging cannot penetrate it without doing too much at the other end of the scale.
American Journal of Photogfraphy.— ApriL
B. F. Moore, on "Lights and Shadows"; James Kay, on "While Rocking Winds Are Piping Loud," telling how to keep a camera and tripod steady in a strong wind; and Henry Reed, on "An Improved Method of Artistic Coloring of Photographs," have given us inter- esting material in this number.
''Lights and Shadowst^ by Benj« F. Moore«
Simplicity of light and shade demands that the light should come from one source only, and unless the rep-
resentation of that source is introduced in the picture, which is rarely possible in photography, it must be from the position where there is most reason to expect to find it.
Light on nature generally comes from above, except at the rising or setting of the sun or when it is produced by artificial means.
This affords the first general guiding principle.
A second is derived from the circumstance that all un- polished surfaces, as they recede from the eye or from the light, become apparently darker, and technically are said to fall into half-tint or shadow.
This falling into shadow conveys an impression of the object, and thus it is indicated that receding surfaces are the most proper to receive the shadow; for to throw a light upon a receding surface is to counteract the usual effect of nature— to violate apparent truth and to present to the spectator a species of deception.
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Novelties of the Season
281
^ While Rodrfng Vlnds are Piping Loud^ by Jas. Kay* Fasten to the screw by which the camera is held on the tripod a piece of strong cord of such length that when the camera is in position the lower end of the string is on the ground. It is best to have this lower end terminate in a loop, so that the foot may be placed either in the loop or where the ground is firm upon the cord itself, which should be pulled taut, and held so during exposure. Necessarily the weight of the foot is on the ground, and the whole muscular tension upon the string.
The effect is marvelous, and all trepidation or vibration is done for and the camera is braced up like a ship before a storm. This plan is far preferable to suspending a canvas between the tripod legs and loading it with rocks. So much for the tripod and camera, but the focusing cloth is also a plaything for the wind's frolics. It should be fastened in front by loops over the lens, and a band attached where it goes under the chin, which may be fastened to a hook. The hands are thus left free to do the focusing.
F
OR the bicycle and travel season sev- eral notable new designs of cameras have been put on the market, all with more or less distinct features. Of these, the Scovill Cycle Cartridge
CYCLE CARTRIDGE SOLOGRAPH. Lon£- Focus, Reversible Back.
Solograph, with new Film Attachment, and the Cycle Graphic, both with reversible back and long focus features are noteworthy for the excellence of their manufacture. The Cycle Cartridge Solograph has a focal capacity of 16 inches in the 4x5 size, and can be used either as a short focus or long focus camera, using in the first case the back and front combinations of the lens together, or removing the back com- bination for long focus work. A special feature for this camera is the new Film Attachment,
which can set in place by removing the reversi- ble back and sliding the attachment over the
back in its place. Any sort of film can be used, either in short or long rolls, and the action is simplicity itself.
The Reversible Back Cycle Graphic, made by Folmer and Schwing, has a focal capacity of 16 inches for the 4x5 size, up to 26 inches for the SyixSyi size. It has a focusing panel, the full size of the plate, actuated by springs with side shields, which forms a perfect focusing hood when opened, doing away with the necessity of a focusing cloth. The whole box swings from
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Club Memoranda.
[June
REVERSIBLE BACK CYCLE GRAPHIC.
the platform, and is secured rig- idly in desired position by milled head screws on the platform. The box and fittings are very substantial. The telescope bed is made in two sections each of which can be securely locked The workmanship of this cam- era, like all of the products of this firm, is excellent through- out.
CLUB MEMORANDA.
E THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES is the Officiafly Appointed Organ of i the HARVARD CAMERA ^ CLUB, Cambridge, Mass.? the BROOKLYN CAMERA CLUB, Brooklyn, N* Y*
HARVARD CAMERA CLUB.
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
W. B. Swift, President
H* W. Eliot Jr., Cor. Sec^,
28 Hilton Block, Cambridge.
THROUGH the kindness of Mr. F. Holland Day, the chib was, on April 2nd, given the pleasure of a private view of Mr. Day's splendid col- lection, at his rooms on Pinck- ney Street, Boston. To all and, especially to those who had not attended Mr. Day's lec- ture in February, the visit was not only a pleasure socially, but an education in photo- graphic art.
On April loth Mr. E. R O. von Mach, of the University, lectured in the Fogg Hall on "Greek Drapery." Mr. von Mach explained the parts of the Greek costume and illustrated upon a living model the various ways, in which it was worn. By means of lantern slides he showed that the Greek garment, unlike those of modem times, was a facile medium for the expression of personality or emotions as revealed in the postures of the body ; drap- ery, he said, was asplendid "nimbus of ideal- ation," and also served well to bring out
the beauty of the nude in semi -draped figures^. Mr. von Mach has been asked by the Port- land Camera Club to repeat his lecture in that city.
The club has decided to offer two silver medals for the best series of photographs of places in Cambridge likely to possess historical interest in future. The contest has been thrown open to the University, and the last day of entry will be June ist. This is in line with Mr. W. C. Lane's suggestion of making photographs to be stored with the Harvard records in the College Library.
Mr. C. F. Stiles, of the club, gave during the last week of April an exhibition of sum- mer and w^inter photographs of the Presi- dential Range of the White Mountains. The collections showed a great deal of artistic, skill, especially in obtaining distant effects and photographing snow. At the next meeting, on May i6th, Mr. Stiles is to talk on the subject of developing.
For the proposed club studio it is thought $i,ooo will be sufficient; of this amount the club has on hand $300. The building is to include a dark room and exhibition room as well as a gallery.
H. W. Eliot, Jr.,
Cor. Sec.
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Editorial Notes
283
BRCXJKLYN CAMERA CLUR
776 Manhattan Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y. !• S* K« Hawxhtirst^ Presf dent*
G* Of thcl^ Secretary, W* H» Davies, Treasurer.
STARTING with an original thirteen members and weathering the few k stormy trials that are within the ex- f perience of every club that has suc- ceeded in establishing itself, this club has within two years added to its memberships one hundred and eighteen new names, making a total of 131 due-paying names on its rolls. Leaving the suite of rooms at 825 Manhattan Ave. (Brooklyn), which proved to be inadequate for the demands the members put upon it, the club moved to 776 Manhattan Ave., where itnow
has a home second to none. Six dark-rooms, bromide-room (with the latest devices for en- larging) velox-boxes, in fact, everything that an organization of its kinds would want or could desire. Meetings are held on the first Wednes- day evening of each month, and the attendance shows the interest the members take on photo- graphics and the welfare of the club.
The members have had some very interesting demonstrations, and talks on photography by eminent amateurs and some by professionals. A Loan Exhibition of Prints was held during the week of April 9th, which collection was kindly loaned by Mr. Abel, Editor of The Pho- tographic Times.
Any communication to the Secretary will be cheerfully answered.
G. Orthel,
Secretary.
In the Times for May, we gave a fairly full rendering of the conditions under which cameras can be taken into the Exposition grounds in Paris. Many of our contemporaries have, how- ever, gotten mixed on the various rules, one stating that hand-cameras could go in on pay- ment of $5.00 and tripod cameras on payment of $200.00, which, of course, is all wrong. An- other statement going the rounds of the pho- tographic press would give one the impression that a Kodak only is free and ^// tripod cameras would have to pay a fee. This also is not cor- rect. Anjy camera^ no matter what the size^ ivhether a pocket-kodak or an 8x10 Long Focus Solograph, which is carried and used iji the hands only, is free ail day, but any camera, even if it be a kodak, which is put on a tripod or sup- port or rest of any sort is subject to the $5.00 a day fee. Cameras in the hand are tree, cameras on tripods are not. That is the whole thing
in a nutshell. We have this on the authority of G. Mareschal, editor of the Photo-Gazette, of Paris, who obtained this decision from the Secretary-general of the Exposition.
Another new aspirant for the favor of the photographic public, and again a western jour- nal. " Camera Craft,'* which is the name of the new comer, is a handsome production, well edited from cover to cover, and a credit alike to publishers and printers. We extend a hearty welcome to it. But why claim that the Cali- fornia Camera Club is the largest club in the world. We believe it to be the largest club in the States, but there are many clubs on the other side of the water, with a much larger roster of members than the California Club can claim. And, any way, it is not always "numbers " that counts.
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OBITUARY.
Again we have to record the passing away from this life of two most prominent members of the photographic profession. On March 20, 1900, at the age of 74, John Haworth, senior
THE LATC JOHN HAWORTH
member of the firm of John Haworth, Photo- graphic Supply Dealers, Philadelphia, fell asleep for all eternity. He was one of the oldest dealers in photographic supplies in this country, and well and widely known throughout the pro- fession. He first started as a daguerreotyper some forty-seven years ago, and after fifteen years started a supply store in Philadelphia which he continued until his death, being suc- ceeded in the business by his son James, who had been an associate partner for some years.
On April 18, Geo. R. Angell died suddenly while sitting at his breakfast table in his home at Detroit. Mr. Angell was for many years the
proprietor of the well known photographic sup- ply house in Detroit, was president of the Mich- igan Bankers* Association of the City Savings Bank, and was prominently associated with many other organizations.
His funeral was attended by many represen- tatives of the photographic profession, amongst the honorary pall bearers being Mr. Carlton, President of the Rochester Optical and Camera Co., and Mr. B. Pelgrift, of the Scovill& Adams Co. of New York, and the Photographic Times Publishing Association. The following resolu- tions to his memory were adopted by the pho- tographers and photographic stock dealers of the city :
Whereas, God, in His all-wise judgment, has seen fit to remove from among us, George R. Angell, one of the pioneers in the business of photography in this city and State, and
THE LATC OCO. R. ANQCLL.
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Notes and News
lUBiUtt
Whereas, We still have and cherish his lovely charac- teristics, unselfish example, and wise counsels, and whose integrity, faithfulness, and kindliness have made him respected and loved by all those with whom he came in contact in business, in social life, and in the bonds of friendship, therefore be it
Resolved^ That we, as a body and individually, deeply deplore the loss of our esteemed fellow citizen, and extend to his bereaved family our sincere sympathy .
Committee
fC. L. Weed, Wm. H Allen, C. M. Hayes,
,D. D. Spellman.
Philadelphia Photographic Salon, 1900.— The
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has the honor to announce that under joint management with the Pho- tographic Society of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Pho- tographic Salon for 1900 (third year) will be held in the galleries of the Academy, Broad Street, above Arch, from October 21 to November 18, 1900.
The purpose of the Salon is to exhibit that class of work only in which there is distinct evidence of individual artistic feeling and execution, the pictures to be rigidly selected by a competent jury.
Pictures shall have already been shown in Philadelphia at any exhibition open to Wm^ general public will be liable to exclusion.
No awards are offered, and no charge will be made to exhibitors. Each exhibitor will be furnished with a catalogue, which will be the official notification of ac- ceptance.
No exhibitor may submit more than ten pictures, each of which must be framed separately.
The title of each picture and the exhibitor's name and address must be clearly written on the labels provided, which must be attached by the exhibitor to the back of each picture. Nothing may ap|>ear on front of picture except the title and exhibitor's name.
No accepted pictures may be removed before the close of the Exhibition.
Arrangements will be made for the sale of pictures if desired, subject to a commission of fifteen per cent.
All communications and all pictures submitted for ex- hibition must be addressed to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Broad Street, above Arch,Philadelphia, Penn., U. S. A. All pictures must be forwarded at owner's risk, carriage prepaid, and delivered at the Academy not later than 5 p.m., Monday, October i, 1900,
Return charges must be collected by carrier.
The following reliable forwarders are suggested for the convenience of foreign contributors :
Messrs. William Whiteley, Ltd., 151 Queen's Road, Bayswater, London, W., England.
Messrs. Guinchard & Fourniret, 76 Rue Blanche, Paris.
Messrs. Uhlmann & Co., Hamburg, Paris.
The management will use all reasonable care to pre- vent any loss or damage to pictures in its charge, but will not be responsible for such occurrence.
Jury of Selection. Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, New York. Mrs. Gertrude KAsebier, Brooklyn.
Mr. Clarence H. White, Newark, C)|iiO|^^fty tCM^ ^fj^ , Mr. Frank Eugene, New York. ttVf t*,^^^^^*^**^ ■
Miss Eva Lawrence Watson, PhiladeflpBtaT^ The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Edward H. Coates, President. Harrison S. Morris, Secretary. The Photographic Society of Philadelphia.
Roberts. Redfield, John G. Bullock, Edmund Stirling. Entry forms, labels, etc., can be obtained by ad- dressing the Secretary, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
The Royal Photographic Society of London an- nounces its Forty- fifth Annual Exhibition to be held from October ist to November 3d, of this year.
The Exhibition will be divided into five sections, namely.
\. Selected Pictorial Photographs. IL General Professional Work, in. Photographic Apparatus and Material. IV. Photomechanical Processes of Reproduction. V. Scientific Photography and Photography in its Technical Applications.
General Regulations.
The exhibition will be conducted according to the rules adopted by the Conference of Judges in 1895.
it/<f^a/j.— Medals will be placed at the disposal of the Judges in Sections I., III. (^), IV.. and V. The Judges* decision shall be final.
Specifying Section. — Exhibitors are requested to specify the section in which their exhibits are to be placed. Exhibits which are not sp>ecifically entered for a particular section will be dealt with as the committees shall consider appropriate.
Competition.— IsH^ exhibits will be considered as en- tered for competition (in those sections where medals are offered) unless the contrary is definitely expressed upon the entry form. Exhibits may bo entered *'not for competition " in those sections in which medals are offered, at the option of the exhibitor, and, if accepted, will be so marked. Exhibits in the competitive sections which may be accepted, but do not comply with the regulations, will be marked not for competion, without notice to the exhibitor.
Ineligible Work. — Photojajraphs colored by hand, and photographs already shown at any public exhibition within the London postal district, except as regards Section II., will not be eligible for admission.
Lantern Slides y etc. — Lantern and stereoscopic slides will be displayed in frames and stereoscopes provided by the Society. The loan of lantern slides for evening display during the exhibition will not debar them in any way from future competition.
Catalogue.— K catalogue of the Exhibition will be published and a copy supplied to every exhibitor. The Council reserve the right to reproduce in the catalogue, or in general views of the Exhibition, any of the pictures or objects exhibited.
/r<iw/>?jf.— Photographs in Oxford frames will not be
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Notes and News
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accepted. Excessive breadth in frames or mounts, sil- vered, gilt or oval frames, or projecting mouldings are undesirable, and may prevent photographs from secur- ing admission, or the position they might otherwise merit. It is desirable that each photograph be separ- ately framed. A label bearing the name and address of the exhibitor, with the title or description of the photo- graph, together with a number corresponding with that upon the entry form, must be affixed to the back of every frame. The front of the frame, the picture or the mount, may bear the name of the exhibitor and the title of the picture, neatly inscribed^ and these only. To' prevent damage to other exhibits, all frames should have sunken backboards, and the fastening nails should not project, the back being finally covered with thick brown paper. No plates, rings, or screw eyes, should be affixed to the frames.
Foreign and Colonial Exhibitors.— Yoxe\%Vi and Col- onial exhibitors may send photogiaphs unframed. They must, however, be properly mounted. The Society will provide frames for accepted photographs without charge. The attention of Foreign and Colonial exhibitors is drawn to the following regulation: That carriage to and from the exhibition xaM%\.h^ prepaid, (See ** Entry and Reception of Exhibits.'*)
Entry and Reception of Exhibits. — Exhibitors in Sec- tions I., II. (i9). 111. {A\ IV. and v., nnjst fill up the entry form supplied by the Society, and send it by post to the Secretary, Royal Photographic Society, 66 Rils- sell Square, London. W. C, on or before Tuesday, Sep- tember nth, or deliver it with the exhibit by hand at that address, on or before Wednesday, September 12th, at 8 P.M. Exhibits delivered by hand will be received at 66 Russell Square, London, W. C, at any time be-
tween the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., before Wednes- day, September 12th. On that day they will be re- ceived from 10 A.M. to 8 p.m.. after which time and date no exhibit can, under any circumstances ^ be re- ceived Exhibits sent by carrier must be carriage paid, addressed to the Secretary, Royal Photographic Society, 66 Russell Square, London, W.C, and must arrive on or before Tuesday, September nth.
Sales.— The prices of photog^phs will be published in the catalogue so far as they are furnished by the ex- hibitors. Photographs not priced on the entry form will be taken as •* not for sale." Fifteen p^r cent, commis- sion will be deducted on all sales effected by the Society.
Section I. Selected Pictorial Photographs.— yie^sAs will be placed at the disposal of the Judges. No exhibit will be eligible for an award unless, w^ith the exception of mounting and framing, it is entirely the work of the exhibitor
Lantern slides will not be eligible for an award unless both the negatives and slides are entirely the work of the exhibitor. If an award be made it will be to an individual slide.
CHARGES. - No diarge will be made to members of tiie Society or to Foreisfn or Colonial ezhlbhon in this Section.
Section V. Scientific Photography and Photography in its Technical Applications. — This Section will com- prise examples of work shown for its technical qualities and apparatus used in photographic investigations— the various i)rocesses of color photography, the photo- graphic reproduction of paintings, drawings, maps, and plans, photographs by artificial light, photography ap- plied to industrial and educational purposes, astronomy.
MOONLIGHT ON THE PACIPIC
A. Svftuon
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Notes and News
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spectroscopy, geology, meteorology, microscopy, medi- cine, surgery and the Rontgen rays, surveying and en- gineering, zoology and botany, telephotography, new processes, enlargements, photography applied to mili- tary purposes, recording instruments, etc., negatives, transparencies, stereoscopic prints and slides, lantern slides, and general work.
Exhibits may be excluded unless the points of special technical or scientific interest are distinctly stated.
Medals will be placed at the disposal of the Judges, but non-competitive work will be admitted.
CAar^es.— The charges will be the same as for Sec- tion I.
The Judges are P. H. Emerson, M.A.; Col. J. Gale; A. Horsley IHnton; B.W. Leader, R.A ; J. B. B. Well- ington; Thomas Bol as, F.I. C; Chapman Jones, F.I.C.; and J. W. Swan, M.A.
Entry forms, etc. , can be obtained from the Secretary Royal Photograpic Society, 66 Russell Square, London.
Photographing the Total 5olar Eclipse, May 28, 1900. The Eclipse Committee of the Astronomical and Astro- physical Society of America have sent out a circular giving general suggestions regarding the recording of this phenomenon from which we quote the following as likely to be of interest to photogpraphers:
** Observations made without a definite purpose, and not based upon a careful consideration of the end to be attained, will rarely be of scientific value. The more important observations which may be undertaken are enumerated in the paragraphs below.
Relative Position of the Sun and Moon. (This will require the observer's position and the time to be known, (a) From visual observations of contacts, especially contacts II and III, made at stations near the central line, and at stations near the boundaries of the shadow path, {p) From photographs of the solar crescent obtained with long-fucus instruments at stations on the central line, within one minute of the contacts, the exact moments of exposure being noted. The progp-am of exposures should be symmetrical with reference to the middle of the eclipse. Snap shots of the star crescent taken a moment before the sun is entirely covered, and the moment after it reappears, with a large camera, may also be useful if the photographer can give the moments to the nearest second of standard time. 1 he slowest plates should be used, and the exposures given by
a 3 automatic shutters. With a camera ratio of — = — ,
/ 480 an exposure of o.ooi second is abundant. Excessive exposures cannot be expected to yield results comparable to visual observations of the contacts.
Photographs of the Corona, Attention may be called to three classes of camera lenses used for record-
a I
ing the corona, {a) Lenses for which — is > or = -,
/ 6
especially adapted to recording the details of the outer corona and the extensions. A wide range of exposures, from yjff second up, should prove useful. The greatest extent of corona hitherto recorded was on triple-coated plates, exposure 20 seconds. Some observers consider that long exposures on very slow plates, fully developed,
should be effective in distinguishing the long streamers on the bright-sky background. Some also believe that the faint extensions will be best photographed with
a lenses for which — is considerably less than \, {J>) f a Lences in which — is about ^5, especially adapted to
/
recording the details of the mid-corona. The rear lens of a photographic doublet may be used alone to give a long focus. With rapid plates, exposures of ,^,j second should easily record the prominences, -^^ to \ second the inner corona, and a range of longer exposures the mid-corona. (If equatorial mounting and clockwork are wanting, exposures should not exceed one or two seconds for / = 60 inches, and similarly in other cases.) (r) Objectives of relatively great focal length, g^iving details of structure in the inner corona. The objective may be pointed directly at the sun and used with a mov- ing photographic plate; or it may receive light from a
a I suitable heliostat. With — = — , an exposure of \
f 96 second, on slow plates, has recorded the prominences. Revolving diaphragms immediately in front of the pho- tographic plate and concentric with the moon's image, may be use^ to reduced the equivalent exposure time of the inner corona.
Before and after the total phase it will be interest- ing to repeat, and extend as far as possible, the success- ful experiments made at the Chile and Indian eclipses, of photographing the corona many seconds before and after totality.
In all photographic work care must be taken to pro- vide for the accurate orientation of the coronal image. A satisfactory method consists in exposing a plate to the sky on a dark night, allowing the stars to trail across
a the plate. For cameras in which — is large, ^ Her cutis
f
will g^ve a suitable trail. Mercury and £ Tauri will appear on most photographs of the corona, and will also serve as an excellent means of orientation.
Photographic Search for an Intra-Mercurial Planet. The lenses recommended for this purpose in Harvard College Observatory Circular No. 48 have an aperture of 3 inches and a focal length of 1 1 feet 4 inches. It is stated in the Circular that with such lenses stars as faint as the eighth magnitude can be photographed dur- ing the eclipse in an exposure of one minute. Portrait lenses of large aperture and rapid rectilinear lenses may also be used.
Eclipse photographers cannot be too strongly cau- tioned against a dense development of the plate. This has been the great fault with most of the negatives at previous eclipses. The image should be slowly de- veloped and kept as thin and transparent as possible.
All photographic plates used in the eclipse problems should be • backed " to prevent halation Water color- lampblack, reduced to the consistency of paste and ap- plied to the back of the plate, will answer well for this purpose, or the back of the plate may be flowed with a mixture of normal collodian 100 parts, chrysoidine 3 parts."
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Notes and News
[June
Photographing Upon Jlarble.— The following process for making photographic impressions upon marble has recently appeared, and is said to g^ve very fine results. The surface of the marble is well smoothed but not polished. Upon this is spread a layer of the following mixture : Benzine, 500 grammes ; turpentine, 500 grammes; bitumen, 50 grammes; beeswax, 5 grammes. This layer is allowed to dry, and the gelatine surface of the photographic plate is then applied and an exposure of 20 minutes made by sunlight. After removing the
plate, wash with gas^jline, which takes off that part of the varnish which has not been acted upon by the Hght, and the image gradually appears. The action of the gasoline is stopped at the desired point by washing in a stream of water. The surface thus prepared is plunged into an alcoholic solution of Prussian blue, eosine red, etc. When the color has penetrated by capillary action, the layer of varnish is taken off and the surface of the marble finely polished. In this way a permanent ima^e of a fine color and great depth is ob- tained.— Scientific American,
THE THOTOGRATHIC 'TIMES ItECORD
Of Competitions Open to Photogfraphers.
|
NAME |
ADDRESS |
SUBJECT |
PRIZF^ |
CLOSING DATE |
RESTRICTIONS |
REMARKS |
|
Photographic Times |
New York |
Book Illus. tration |
$176.00 Cash and 1 Sept. 1, 5 Medals | 1900 |
None |
See January Number |
|
|
Ladies^ Home Journal |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
Attractive Outdoor Scenes in the Country |
1 at $150.00 1 at 100.00 1 at 76.00 1 at 60.00 1 at 85.00 10 at 10.00 |
November 1, 1900 |
See Journal for April |
Address Art Bureau |
|
Ladies' Home Journal |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
Booth at any Fair or Festival |
1 at $100.UU 1 at 50.00 8 at 85.00 5 at 10.00 |
July 1, 19«10 |
Sec Jourcal for March |
Address Art Bureau |
|
Ladies' Home Journal |
Philadelphia, |
City Back Yards |
1 at $50.00 1 at 86.00 1 at 10.00 |
October 1, 1900 |
See Journal |
Address Art Bureau |
|
Indianapolis Press |
Indianapolis, Ind. |
Changed Bi- weekly |
$5.00, $8.00 and $Too |
Bi-weekly |
Must use Coupon Amateurs only |
See Paper |
|
Leslie's Weekly |
New York, N. Y. |
Recent Cur- rent Events |
$6.00 Cash |
Weekly |
Amateurs No Copyright Pictures |
$1 paid for each photograph used |
|
Leslie's Weekly |
New York |
'"?ffi'=" »>o.oo |
June 1 |
See Paper |
$2 paid for each photograph used |
|
|
Leslie's Weekly |
New York |
Paris Exposition |
$80.00 |
November 1 |
See Paper |
$3 paid for each photograph used |
|
Patent Record |
Baltimore, Md. |
Unique Sub- jects and Re- cent Current Events |
$6.00. $8.00 and $8.00 |
15th of each month |
Amateurs Sec Paper |
|
|
Mail and Express |
New York, N. Y. |
General |
$5.00 |
Weekly |
No Copyright Pictures |
No Pictures Re- turned |
|
IlL Buffalo Express |
Buffalo. N. Y. |
Cash |
Annual |
Sec Paper lished and paid for liberally |
||
|
The American Boy |
Detroit, Mich. |
No Set Sub- ject |
$8.00 |
Monthly |
Subscribers' only |
$1. paid for each photograph used |
|
Western Camera Notes |
Minneapolis', Minn. |
Summer Landscapes |
Cash and Materials |
June 80 |
Subscribers and Ama- teurs only. See Rules |
Held Monthly |
|
Photo Beacon |
Chicago, Hi. Chicago, 111? |
Children under 7 |
Books |
May 81, im |
See Rules. | Held Monthly |
|
|
Photo Beacon |
Reduction |
Books |
June 80, 1900 |
See Rules |
Held Monthly |
|
|
Cottage and Castle |
New York |
General |
$5.00 Cash |
15lh of each month |
Amateurs only |
See Rules |
|
Outdoor Life |
Denver, Colo. |
Mountain Scenery |
1,000 Grain Silver Medal |
June 7, 1900 |
Use Coupon |
Held Monthly See Magazine |
|
Evening Telegram |
New York, N.Y. |
News Events or Odd Scenes in N.Y. State |
$80.00, f 10.00 and June 1, $6.00 1 1900 |
Amateurs only See Paper |
No Pictures Re- turned |
|
|
Northwestern Amateur |
St Paul, Minn |
General Landscapes |
Cameras and Supplies |
June 15, 1900 |
Amateurs and Subscribers only |
|
|
Photo -American |
New York |
Portraits |
Books and Materials |
Coupon must be attached |
See Magazine |
|
|
Photo- American |
New York |
Landscapes |
Books and Materials |
Coupon must be attached |
See Magazine |
All publications holding competitions open to photographers are invited to send in full particulars of same for insertion in above Record, as it is desired to make it as complete as possible.
Digitized by
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GOSSIP
GRAVURL-PHOTOChROMC ilNG CO N
CH.TOLLENS.
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■x
I*
i
•a
.•-^ Jlv:
'I
Digitized by
rol. XXXII.
M. DOtXARS PER ANNUM.
JULY, 1900.
SINOLE COPIES, 3S CENTS.
'■'■■. n
'^fi^//
I
RAPHIC
TOES
An-Illustrated monthly-aagazine devoted:t0-the- interests- of-
AM'ISTICerSCIENTIFIC-
€^ Fhotography
.^r-Vv
^^)
Pvv.
rm*PHOTOGRAI!fflC-TIA\ES:RUBUSHING* 1 j\SSOCIATION^6(hAHi)^6>EAST^ll?*ST.^yEW^YORK.
Digitized by
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CONTENTS
PACB
Gossip— By Hugo Tollens — Frontispiece opp. 289
Inferiority of Single Pictures to Stereographs — By
Charles Himes, Ph.D. — Illustrated 289
Negative Making— By Payette J. Chute 292
Evening Light — By Prescott Adanison — Illustration 293
The Bathers— By C. Wolff— Illustration 294
Landscape — By A. Wande — Illustration 295
•* Snowbound " — By A. D. Chaffee — Illustration. . . . 296
Winiam H. Fox Talbot— Illustration 297
Enquiry into the Early History of Photogfraphy 297
From Old Virginia — By Virginia Prall — Illustration 298 ** Chill and Dun Falls on the Moor the Brief Novem- ber Day" — By G. W. Norris — Illustration 299
Landscape— By W. J. Mullins— Illustration 301
A Few Suggestions— By E. M. Miller 302
Portrait Study — By R. Demachy— Illustration. 303
Landscape — By Alexandre — Illustration 304
Along the Clove — By Newton W. Emmens— Illus- trated 305
**The Small Trees"— By Newton W. Emmens— Ill- ustration 305
Haytime — By J. Marissiaux — Illustration 306
A Woodland Scene— By Newton W. Emmens— Ill- ustration 307
The Dam of the Second Lake— By Newton W.
Emmens — Illustration 307
Lantern Slide Making for Beginners — By Primrose
Hill- Illustrated 308
Notes on Flash-light Photography— By H. McBean
Johnstone— Illustrated 310
The After-Supper Story Telling— By H. T. Miles- Illustration 310
The Blacksmith— By H. McBean Johnstone — Illus- tration 311
Exhibit of the New York Camera Club— By C. A. Johnson 31a
PAGB
Soft Meek-eyed Indian Summer Veiled the Sky —
By G. W. Norris— Illustration 313
Stone Walls and Hedges — By Percy Lund— Illus- trated 314
T3rpical Yorkshire landscape — By Percy Lund— Ill- ustration 314
Pretty Scene Spoiled by Foreground — By Percy
Lund— Illustration 315
Photographic Colossus of Rhodes — Illustration 315
Country Cottage — By Percy Lund — Illustration. ... 315 Country Cot;tage — By Percy Lund— Illustration. ... 316
Over the Hedge— By Percy Lund — Illustration 316
The Neck in Portraiture— By Frank W. Sutcliffe—
Illustrated 317
Landscape — By A. Wande — Illustration 317
"The Eye of Day"— By N. M. C. Knappcn— Illus- tration 318
Fuzzy Photography a Fad — By Romyn Hitchcock. . 319
Dog's Head— By Hamm — Illustration opp. 320
Our Monthly Digest 321
Landscape— By W. P. Stokes — lUustration 321
•• Now is the Year's Recessional "—By A. D. Chaffee
— Illustration 322
Landscape — By W. J. Mullins— Illustration 324
Child's Head— By Mrs. Claude Gatch— Illustration. 325 Landscape — By Geo. D. Bartiett, Jr. — Illustration. . 326
Club Memoranda 327
Demonstration in Gum-Bichromate 328
Henry Wenzel, Jr.— By Chas. E. Fairman 328
Book-Illustrating Competition 329
Photographing Machine Parts 330
Pyrocatechin Note . . 330
The Truants— By W. Wolfgang 331
Editorial Notes 332
Notes and News 333
The Editor's Table 335
Photogrraphic Times Record 336
NOT A SUGGESTION . . .
...BUT A FACT
that
. . DISCO . .
the gelatine, non-curling, hard film printing-out paper is also available for
QUICK PRINTING
by gasl^ht or by dayl^ht.
Afterwards— DEVELOP like a PLATE, usinj: OUR SPECIAL FORHULA.
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
ARE THUS ABSOLUTELY INDEPENDENT
OF THE WEATHER AND THE TRUST.
THE SCOVILL & ADAMS CO. OF NEW YORK,
60 & 62 East Eleventh Street, New York.
Digitized by
Vol. XXXII.
JULY, 1900
INFERIORITY OF SINGLE PICTURES TO STEREOGRAPHS.
BY CHARLES HIMES, PH.D. LL.D.
THE only ground for expectation of a persistent and general popular inter- est in the stereoscope must be found in its practical value, and a unique practical value, as an optical aid. It must be realized, as its raison d'Hre^ that some- thing can be done with it that cannot be done without it, at least by the average individual, and that it can be done easily and comfortably, and that this something is of high value, and continual occurrence, not simply curious and of passing interest. Only after the instrument has experimentally demonstrated its practical value, the optical and physiological conditions involved and psychological speculations in regard to it, acquire an interest for most persons. For this reason, in a previous article,* experiments, interesting in themselves and readily performed by any one, were suggested and illustrated, by which the fundamental facts were emphasized upon which the value of the stereoscope for
representation, education, record, and investiga- tion depends. With these facts well in mind, not only will intelligent use of the instrument be promoted, but even the tyro will be apt to find himself experimenting with new subjects for its application. The first of these facts, verified by a simple experiment, is that the two eyes give us unmistakable impressions of relief solidity, position, that one eye cannot give. The other fact, also verifiable by a suggested
* Photographic Times, Vol. xxix., No. 5, p. 396.
Photographic Timus, Vol. xxx., No. i, p. 14.
Hugo Tollens.
Copyright, igoo, by The Scovill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y.. Post Office.
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Inferiority of Single Pictures to Stereographs*
[July
experiment, and illustrated by camera pictures of a characteristic subject, is, that there is a dif- ference, slight but very appreciable, between the pictures of the same object given by the separate eyes, so that we can speak of right-eye and left-eye pictures of an object. And, further, it appears that it is by reason of this very dis- similarity of the pictures that the two eyes give us infallible perception of solidity. The inven- tion of the stereoscope consisted in the recogni- tion of these two facts, and the additional thought, as it occurred to Wheatstone, that if a picture on the flat of an object as seen by the right eye could be presented to the right eye alone, and at the same time a picture of the same object as seen by the left eye could be presented to the left eye alone, the same im- pression of solidity should be produced as when the object itself was looked at with both eyes at once, since the impressions on the retinas of the two eyes would be the same in both cases. He made diagramatic drawings of a solid, as it would appear to the right and left eyes re- spectively, and he devised an instrument by aid of which the right eye was permitted to look at the right eye picture alone, and the left eye at the left eye picture at the same time. The re- sult verified his expectations in the highest de- gree. He called the instrument a stereoscope. But the thought that preceded it was more than the instrument, for the latter, with practice, can be entirely dispensed with. The presentation of the discovery to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1838 created a decided sensation. Sir David Brewster saw in it a complete explanation of vision in three dimensions, and Sir John Herschel charac- terized it as ** one of the most curious and beautiful for its simplicity in the entire range of experimental optics.*' But the difficulty, in many cases impossibility, of making suitable drawings gave it at the time an almost purely scientific value. The advent of photography, capable of furnishing pictures meeting fully all requirements, and of a great variety of subjects, soon popularized it. It was soon found every- where. It was natural that to many it should have been simply a curious optical instrument without permanent interest. It is true that at present it is not utilized to its fullest extent, and is not found in many places where it could be expected. But these who speak deploringly of the decadence of the stereoscope, and the desira- bility of its revival are hardly aware of the ac- tivity of the stereoscopic trade, and the very
large output of stereographs, and that in spite of the fact that the instrument retains the form of half a century ago. It is safe to say that at no period has the commercial production of stereographs approached that of to-day. The mass of the amateurs of to-day, it is true, have not as yet taken kindly to it. For this there may be many reasons, but prominent among them is a magnified impression of innate dif- ficulties involved in taking and mounting stereo- graphs, and in many cases also a want of knowl- edge of its peculiar possibilities. As to the difficulties they will become trifling to the intelligent amateur, with his wonderful capacity to take trouble, as soon as he fully realizes, not simply assents to, the fact that no single picture, on the flat, can in any way be made to give the same effect, the simulation of solidity, afforded by the two dissimilar pictures of the stereo- graph. This dissimilarity seems so slight that dealers not only sometimes are tempted to mount identical pictures from one negative as stereo- graphs, and in some cases even of paintings, but they are encouraged to do so by the ready sale they often command, even to purchasers aware of their character. A few illustrations may serve to make this fundamental fact clear. To take a very simple case in Fig. i, either
FIG. I
diagram may be regarded as a geometrical drawing of a solid, with the face H more re- mote. But on continued looking at it, accom- panied by an exercise of the will and imagina- tion, in some wa}^ not to be described or de- termined, it passes into another solid, with the face H in front, and thus it can be made to rep- resent in turn either solid. This experiment credited by Sir David Brewster to Professor Neckar, and elaborately discussed by him, is one that every tyro in solid geometry has discovered, to his annoyance, for himself. The simple fact is, that it is a drawing that would be made by one eye of either of the solids. It seems a suf- ficent explanation of the appearance of one, at first, rather than the other, that it is in the most natural or usual position. With the plane
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H in the rear the solid rests naturally on its base; with the plane H in the front it rests un- naturally on its edge. The addition of shading is not conclusive as to the solid to be suggested by a given drawing. In the so-called vSchroeder*s steps, Fig. 2, it will be easy to cause the steps in
FIG. 2.
the plain diagram to appear in a natural posi- tion, or as overhanging. In the shaded draw- ings the latter may not be so easy at first, but gradually they may be made to assume either position at will. But the feebleness of a single drawing to express form is most apparent in the
most complete drawings of irregular, unknown, or unfamiliar objects. A photograph even of a lump of chalk, a stone, or an anatomical pre- paration will be unsatisfactory in this respect. In Fig. 3, an object has been selected, rather un- familiar, but of pronounced form. Either pic- ture alone will not inevitably suggest the form. But to return to Fig. i. If the two diagrams are viewed b)'^ means of a sterescope,* all doubt as to the solid represented is eliminated; all control over the solid to be seen is gone. The face H stands out boldly in front with exaggerated perspective. Even the letter H, and the little dash on the right, which appear to be in the plane of the paper, take up a position far in front, and maintain it in spite of all efforts to force them back. So Fig. 3, when looked at with a stereoscope proves to be an ordinary jelly- mold, also with very exaggerated perspec- tive, and nothing else can be made of it.
This power to represent forms, to locate points or objects in space by the combined pictures of a stereograph, is capable of unnumbered, and often unsuspected applications. Many pic- tures of landscapes, especially of glaciers and the like, assume new beauty and value. Any amateur with his simple single camera can dis- cover or contrive subjects that will illustrate it. The scientific investigator may find in it de- cision of points of considerable interest. In this
♦By sawing; off the wooden strip of the ordinary stereoscope on which the carrier of the stereosrraph slides, it can be used for looking at stereographs in books and is not impaired for ordinary use
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connection the location of the . paths of the sparks of a Holtz machine has already been given.* For purposes of record it is plain that stereoscopic representation can in many cases give the only complete and satisfactory repre- sentation.
K^
M
NEGATIVE MAKING.
BY FAYETTE J CLUTE.
ORE advice is given on the subject of developing than perhaps on any other two processes con- nected with photography, but none seems to be more eagerly sought after. In trying to help a couple of my friends who are photographically inclined over the rough places during the last few months; I have had my own past troubles brought back to me, and have been brought to a more full realiza- tion of the great number of half-truths concern- ing negative making that are in constant cir- culation, much to the confusion of the trusting worker who does not take the trouble to make a few experiments or reason out a few things for himself.
When I say that I have found the secret of making a good negative every time, you will perhaps have patience with me and read this article through in order to find the formula that does all this, but first let me go back and point out a few of the stumbling blocks that I found on the road, and in doing so learn where the right way lies.
The beginner generally starts out by using some form of ready prepared developer which he is induced to buy asa ** universal " developer. He is sometimes shown prints from negatives which have had widely different timing. He fails to notice that one is a well lighted, open landscape while the other is an interior, neglects the fact that it is not variations in time of ex- posure that he wishes to correct but deviation from correct exposure that will cause him trouble, and entirely overlooks the lesson to be learned, that it is correct exposure regardless of its length, that gives good negatives.
A little further along he is induced to prepare his own developing solutions. He is told that he will then know just what it consists of and save money in the bargain. This is about as misleading as so plausible an argument can well be. With the wide variations in strength of the
♦ Photographic Timbs, Vol. xxviii., No. a, p. 84.
different forms of the alkali salts, with the ever varying alkalinity of his sulphite of soda, and with the rapid decomposition of his reducing agent, his knowledge of the composition of his developer is limited. almost to the names of the chemicals employed. If time and disappoint- ment count for nought and chemicals allowed to deterioriate are not figured into the account, he may be able to say that he has saved a dollar or two during the season.
The poor results obtained by this last method are but an encouragement to him to take the next step. This is the practice of trj^ng every new formula and every new developer that comes in his way. His results improve but lit- tle, if any, and he finally comes to a vague realiza- tion of the fact that the developer must be in harmony with the exposure. When a friend or ah article in his favorite journal comes for- ward with a well worded scheme of tentative development, he is at once won over to that plan and developing is a three or four-tray process with him from that time on. Here again he fails to learn the lesson taught, that alterations in the developer are well nigh useless, if not worse, unless made with a knowledge of whether over or under exposure is to be coun- teracted, and before the developer is allowed to touch the plate. Should an intimation of this fact reach him he can try an improvement on the last plan. This scheme calls for the re- moval of one horn of the dilemma by always be- ing sure of giving the plate a good full exposure regardless of any fear of over-exposure. This plan is really capable of turning out a high per- centage of printable negatives with such sub- jects as contain plenty of contrast. One has but to be sure the plate has received a good full ex- posure, and in developing, start with about one-fourth of the normal amount of alkali solu- tion, adding it gradually until the image comes slowly. When all detail that is required is out or just before, a citrate is added in sufl&cient quantity to entirely stop further increase of de- tail. Density is then obtained by adding bro- mide of ammonia, or by placing the plate in a strong, well-restrained developer of density- giving character, such as Cramer's Hydro- Bromo, or Edward's Re-developer.
His negatives are not always the good, crisp, quick-printing ones that he would like, and he finds it not always possible to give full ex- posures. Even where there are no moving figures or the like in his view, wind will blow and water move, and this system loses its
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attractiveness. All this time he has deprived himself of the valuable knowledge he might have obtained by giving his careful attention to his exposures, and the results obtained with a normal developer. He has failed to learn what his own experience, and a little thought should have taught him early in his career, that the negative is made, either for good or bad, when the bulb is pressed or the cap re- moved.
This is the whole secret. Once this is learned and a fair amount of proficiency ac- quired in gauging the proper exposure, one is in a position to employ what little control his developer may give him, in pro- ducing negatives for particular printing pro- cesses ; securing certain effects, and in minimiz- ing the faults due to too contrasty or excessively flat lighting, and not, as has been his practice, wasting this valuable power in attempting to correct the effects of pure carelessness.
Of the two or three most popular exposure meters on the market, any one will indicate cor- rect exposure if reason- able care is used in setting the different pointers, and they have been found to agree quite closely in their results. Comparing the exposure times given by the two best known ex- posure tables published in this country with notes of exposures made according to one of the meters during the last two years proves that the tables are nearly as valuable, except in case of yellow sunsets, or where one might under- estimate the value of the sky as a reflector of light when the direct rays of
THE BATHKR8.
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the sun were cut off by clouds. With one of these helps and the employment of a little care and judgment there is no more excuse for giving over-exposure than there is for not weigh- ing one's chemicals correctly. Rapidity of motion in the object photographed is a legiti- mate excuse for under-exposure, but it is the only one. Here we will say that the best method of getting out all that can be got from an under-exposed plate is by fre- quent applications of tresh diluted developer with the alkali slightly increased. Diluting tlie developer permits of this increase of alkali without causing fog.
Our plates to-day are so uniform in speed that there need be no fear on that point, and if one's lens, diaphragms and shutter speeds are not marked correctly the sooner they are so marked the better. Sim- ple methods of testing shutter speeds are pub- lished in the journals from time to time and few lenses are now made whose stops are not cut after some system easily converted into the Fj. or U. S. system.
Carefully kept notes of one's own exposures will, after a time, prove almost invaluable and enable one to judge very closely the exposure re- quired for any subject by referring back to some similar exposure. The last line should be left blank to be filled in after development, with the results ; whether over, under, or correct expos- ure. One way of deter- mining this point is to hold the negative over some dark object and view by reflected light. If a positive image shows on the film side it is a sign of under-exposure.
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but if on the glass side, over-exposure is indicated. If on neither side, correct expos- ure may be assumed except in cases of excessive contrasts. The water of a water fall in a deep shaded gulch will show as a positive on the glass side, while the foliage will either show as under-exposure on the film side or not at all. Notes of each exposure made, not only give us a guide for future exposures but indi- cate the method most suitable in developing each particular plate. An increase in the alkali will counteract an inclination to harshness in a negative of a subject containing violent con- trasts and an additional amount of the reducing agent will tend to decrease flatness. Even with correct exposure it will be found hard to obtain the desired results from these two classes of subjects, and much more difficult, if not im- possible will it be found, to obtain even passable negatives where the exposure has been too • short in the former or too long in the latter case. If we must learn to give correct expo- sure in these extreme cases where tentative de- velopment is of little value, why should Ave not at once learn to give each and every subject that presents itself to our camera an exposure well within the rather wide limit that simply longer or shorter duration of development will easily cover.
Learn the peculiarities of the plate you are using. How they differ from other brands. The amount of pyro or other reducing agent that a Cramer plate seems to require would block up the high lights in a Seed plate before the details in the shadows were all out. The amount of alkali that a Seed plate will stand would cause fog in another good brand of plates, and these things should be learned and taken into account in applying any form of de-
veloper to a certain brand of plates. Learn the peculiarities of your developer. Some can be used for plate after plate, working a trifle harder on each successive one, while others will not allow of repeated use, giving soft, flat results if used too often. Some developers work stronger and with more contrast if less alkali is used, but one or two of the new developers seem to give entirely different results unless the alkali is in- creased instead. Find out how much bromide is required to prevent fog during protracted development. Find out how fast the half-tones should follow the high lights in a correctly ex- posed plate in a normal solution of your devel- oper. Some developers bring them out in regu- lar order, while others seem to bring them out almost simultaneously. Acquaint yourself with the different strengths of the various forms of the chemicals you use so that you can com- pound your developer intelligently from any of the several kinds of alkaline salts and still get your desired results. Watch the effect of a rise or fall in the temperature of your solutions. This is a matter of more importance than is generally supposed. vSome of the formulas for hydroquinone developers that are published from time to time would cause most plates to fog from an excess of alkali that would re- sult from the crystalizing out of the hydro- quinone at the least fall in the temperature. All developers work best at a temperature of between 60 and 70 deg.
Learn your plate; learn your developer, and learn to give correct exposure and then you can learn to "monkey with your developer," and do it intelligently and to the advantage of your resultant negatives. Use either a two solution developer which will allow you to vary the pro- portions of the developer proper and the alkali;
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or what is perhaps a better method; employ two different developers of different character- istics, as for instance, a strong, well-restrained hydroquinone formula, and another of the softer working developers, such as metol, that will bring out detail in the shadows without blocking up the high lights. If your notes indi- cate a flat subject, use the strong, well -restrained solution; if excessive contrasts are expected, employ the softer working developer, mixing the two in varying proportions will suggest itself as the notes seem to indicate more or less the desirability of contrast or softness.
Later on a couple of soft, round, pointed brushes, and a few small dishes with a ten per cent, bromide solution in one, an alkali solution in another, and the strong developer in a third, will give a method of correcting certain short- comings that our plate shows when we attempt to reproduce too wide a range of light values. Negatives that are subjected to this local treat- ment should be allowed to become rather dense and after fixing be reduced either locally or wholly with Farmer's reducer or persulphate of ammonia as seems most desirable. This will remove the mottled appearance caused by the local brush treatment and leave the negative clear and w^ith a smooth surface. Of these methods of reducing as well as of intensifying, we will treat in a future article.
One thing more: use a good, big, generous light in your dark room. We all learn the ad- vantage of this quite late in our day, and some never learn it. It is not the volume of the light but its intensity. Ten square feet of ruby light will not fog a plate any quicker than ten
square inches if it is of the same intensity. Ask your plate-maker to include in his next shipment to your dealer a couple of sheets of glass such as he uses in his factory. My plate- maker sent me two t2X 14 lights, at 60 cents each that are worth more to me than all the small, ill-smelling, unsafe and eye-wearing lamps the stock houses could set on a shelf. I used them fitted in the front of a large box for several years, but lately have glazed a window in my dark room wall with them and keep the lamp outside. With this glass and one thickness of what is called gold bank envelope paper over it I can develop the fastest color-sensitive plates in a good, comfortable light by using ordinary care. Use a good generous light and make your developing a pleasure instead of a drudgery.
A CHEAP EFFECTIVE BACKING
The chief requirements of an effective back- ing are (i) Should be easily applied; (2) should dry quickly; (3) should be simply and easily removed; (4) it should be capable of absolute contact; and, lastly, and perhaps the most im- portant, requirement is that the backing should be of the same refractive index as the glass of the plate, so that it will ensure the complete absence of the photographer's enemy, viz., halation.
After numerous trials of various backings, T
think I am safe in giving the following as an
ideal one: —
Crystal caramel powder }^ oz.
Dextrine i dram
Methylated spirits and water to make a stiff paste.
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WILLIAM HKN rOX TALBOT.
ENQUIRY INTO THE EARLY HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY**
A Sketch of the Life of W, H* Fox Talbot Specially in Reference to Photography.
(continued.)
THE Talbots are an ancient family and the church of Lacock in Wiltshire contains the tombs of many ances- tors of Fox Talbot from the six- teenth century. Sir Gilbert Talbot, a collateral, it was, who in 1662 conveyed the mace from Charles II. to the Royal Society on the latter receiving a Royal Charter. His por- trait by J. Hales (1679), hangs in the corridor at Lacock Abbey. Fox Talbot's mother was a daughter of the second Earl of Ilchester. His
•Copyrighted, 1900, in the United States by The Photographic Times Publishing Association. •Copyrighted in Great Briuin by Tk* Pkotogram^ Limited.
father, William Davenport Talbot, died five months after the birth of his son (on February nth, 1800). The boy was senr to Harrow and lodged in the house of Dr. Butler, the head mas- ter. He seems to have been an unusually clever child. When he was twelve years old, Dr. Butler wrote of him to Lord Winchelsea. " I am really distressed at removing him at so early an age into the fifth form; but if his acquirements are beyond his years, how can I help it ?" We may also quote from a letter from Fox Talbot to his mother written on June 20th, 1812. He is referring to a fulminating powder. "The
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powder she describes must either have been hyperoxymuriate of potash; or one of the metallic fulminating powders which are so dan- gerous that they can never be removed out of the vessel in which they were made without ex- ploding, and most likely a small portion had got between the cork and the neck of the bottle, which would infallibly explode by the friction of opening it."
While at Harrow he contrived to study prac- tical chemistry — a forbidden subject then, by reason of Dr. Butler's fears of its danger — in a neighboring blacksmith's shop.
From Harrow he went to Cambridge, where he took the Porson prize in 1820. He graduated in 1 82 1 as twelfth wrangler. For two years he sat in the House of Commons, but the political life had no predominant attraction for him, and he soon settled down to the private life of a country gentleman of catholic tastes. His physical and mathematical researches gained him the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1 83 1. It was in 1833, when on a visit to Italy, and when using the camera obscura as an aid to sketching, that his attention was turned to what he afterwards once called " the art of fixing a shadow." In January, 1834, he returned to England, and during the spring of the same year obtained a definite result. In 1835 he ob- tained small camera pictures with exposures of about ten minutes.
Other things occupying his time he did very little more for three years. In January, 1839, hearing of Daguerre's discovery, Talbot was anxious to fix a date in connection with his own, and Faraday therefore announced it at the Friday evening meeting of the Royal Institu- tion of January 25th, 1839, and Fox Talbot read papers before the Royal Society on January 31st and February 21st following.
During the next year or two he devoted him- self to improving this process. On September 20th, 1840, he discovered the latent image, and on June loth, 1841, communicated a first ac- count of the calotype process to the Royal So- ciety, which, in 1842, awarded him its Rumford medal. In 1844, he issued by subscription "The Pencil of Nature," the first work ever iU lustrated by photographs. It did not run beyond five or six numbers. In 1845, ^ collection of twenty-three photographs was issued in a similar way under the title of " Sun Pictures in Scot- land."
About this period Talbot commenced turning his attention to the application of photography
to engraving. He had an engraved plate of Melrose Abbey made for him from one of his own photograms by an engraver named G. Bar- clay, and set to work to produce the same result by photographic means.
About this time the first meetings of what afterwards became the Photographic Society of Great Britain (now the Royal Photographic Society) were held at the Society of Arts, and it being feared that Fox Talbot's numerous patents would hinder the progress of the art, it was sug- gested (by whom we cannot say) that if Fox Talbot were offered a baronetcy he would be willing to relinquish his patent rights. A pre- amble was drawn up and separate sheets dis- tributed for the registration of signatures. One of these is in the possession of the Royal Photo- graphic Society, to which it was presented by John Leighton, who himself obtained the sig- natures which it bears. Mr. Leighton sought to obtain Faraday's signature, but, as is well known now, Faraday set his face against all patenting of scientific discoveries and would have nothing to do with the matter. At any rate in July, 1852, Talbot was approached by Lord Rosse, President of the Royal Society, and Sir Chas. Eastlake, President of the Royal Aca- demy, and on July 30th (see The Times, August 13th, 1852), replied, offering his patent rights (except the application of his invention to por- trait taking) as a free present to the public.
The later years of his life were much occupied with the study of antiquities. He took a great interest in the aims of the Society of Biblical Archeeology and from 1856 to 1877 (the year of his death) he wrote many papers and translated many Assyrian inscriptions.
The Internal History of Talbotype or OJotype.
The first published information of Fox Tal- bot's photographic experiments was in a paper to the Royal Society, January 31st, 1839. This, while it describes the manipulation, does not contain much of interest beyond the fact that the author was unacquainted with the work of Davy and Wedgwood until after he had suc- ceeded in fixing the photographic image. The chemical outline of the process was the subject of a second paper before the Royal Society on February 21st, 1839. Neither of these papers appear in the Philosophical Transactions, but are published slightly abridged in the Royal Society Proceedings. The second appears in full in The Philosophical Magazine (1839, p. 209). We quote the full text of it. It is the first published
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process for obtaining a permanent photographic print.
An account of the processes employed in Photogenic Drawing, in a letter to Samuel H. Christie, Esq.. Sc.R.S., Irom H. Talbot. Esq., F.R.S.
Read before the Royal Society. February 21st, 1839,
PAil. Mag.y Series 3, vol. xiv., No. 88, March, 1839.
*• Dear Sir : In compliance with the request of several scientific friends, who have been much interested with the account of the art of Photogenic Drawing, which I had the honor of presenting to the Royal Society on the 31st of last month, I will endeavor to explain, as briefly as I can, but at the same time without omitting anything essential, the methods which I have hitherto employed for the production of these pictures. If this explanation, on my part, should have the effect of drawing new en- quirers into the field, and if any new discoveries of im- portance .should be the result, as I anticipate, and especially if any means should be discovered by which the sensitiveness of the paper can be materially in- creased, I shall be the first to rejoice at the success; and, in the meanwhile, I shall endeavor, as far as I may be able, to prosecute the enquiry myself.
•• The subject naturally divides itself into two heads, viz., the preparation of the paper, and the means of fix- ing the design.
** (i) Preparation of the Paper.— Xn order to make what may be called ordinary photogenic paper, I select, in the first place, paper of a good firm quality and smooth surface. I do not know that any answers better than superfine writing-paper. I dip it into a weak solu- tion of common salt, and wipe it dry, by which the salt is uniformly distributed throughout its substance. 1 then spread a solution of nitrate of silver on one surface only, and dry it at the fire. The solution should not be
CHILL AND DUN, FALLS ON THK MOOR TMC BRICP NOVCMBCR DAY."
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saturated, but six or eight times diluted with water. When dry the paper is fit for use.
** I have found by experiment that there is a certain proportion between the quantity of salt and that of the solution of silver, which answers best and gives the maximum eflPect. If the strength of the salt is aug- mented beyond this point, the eflPect diminishes, and, in certain cases, becomes exceedingly small.
* * This paper, if properly made, is very useful for all photogenic purposes. For example, nothing can be more perfect than the images it g^ves of leaves and flowers, especially with a summer sun: the light passing through the leaves delineates every ramification of their nerves.
•* Now suppose we take a sheet of paper thus pre- pared, and wash it with a saturated solution of salt, and then dry it. We shall find (especially if the paper has been kept some weeks before the trial is made) that its sensibility is greatly diminished, and, in some cases, seems quite extinct. But if it is again washed with a lib- eral quantity of the solution of silver it becomes again sensible to light, and even more so than at first. In this way, by alternately washing the paper with salt and sil- ver, and drying it between times, I have succeeded in increasing its sensibility to the degree which is requisite for receiving the images of the camera obscura.
** In conducting this operation it will be found that the results are sometimes more and sometimes less satis- factory, in consequence of small and accidental varia- tions in the proportions employed. It happens some- times that the chloride of silver is disposed to darken of itself, without any exposure to light; this shows that the attempt to give it sensibility has been carried too far. The object is to approach to this condition as near as possible without reaching it, so that the substance may be in a state ready to yield to the slightest extraneous
force, such as the feeble impact of the violet rays when much at- tenuated. Hav- ing therefore pr^ared a num- ber of sheets of paper with chem- ical proportions slightly different from one aliother. let a piece be cut from each, and. having been duly marked or num- bered, let them be placed side by side in a very weak diffused light for about a quarter of an hour. Then, if any one of them, as frequently happens, exhibits a marked advan- tage over its com- petitors, I select
Geo.
Norris, M.D.
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the paper which bears the corresponding number to be placed in the camera obscura.
**(2) Method of Fixing the Images. — After hav- ing tried ammonia, and several other reagents, with very imperfect success, the first thing which gave me a successful result was the iodide of potassium, miich diluted with water. If a photogenic picture is washed over with this liquid, an iodide of stiver is formed which is absolutely unalterable by sun- shine. This process requires precaution ; for if the solution is too strong, it attacks the dark parts of the picture. It is requisite, therefore, to find by trial the proper proportions. The fixation of the pictures in this way, with proper management, is very beautiful and lasting. The specimen of lace which I exhibited to the Society, and which was made five years ago, was preserved in this manner.
•* But my usual method of fixing is different from this, and somewhat simpler, or at least requiring less nicety. It consists in immersing the picture in a strong solution of common salt, and then wiping off the superfluous moisture, and drying it. It is sufficiently singular that the same subject which is so useful in giving sensibility to the paper should also be capable, under other circumstances, of destroying it, but such is, nevertheless, the fact.
" Now, if the picture which has been washed and dried is placed in the sun, the white parts color themselves of a pale lilac tint, after which they become insensible. Numerous experiments have shown to me that the depth of this lilac tint varies according to the quantity of salt used, relatively to the quantity of silver. But, by properly adjusting these, the images may, if desired, be retained of an absolute whiteness. I find I have omitted to mention that those preserved by iodine are always of a very pale primrose yellow ; which has the extraordinary and very remarkable property of turning to a full gaudy yellow whenever it is exposed to the heat of a fire, and recovering its former color again when it is cold.
" I am, etc., H. Fox Talbot."
A curious incident must be recorded here. On March 14, 1839, Sir John F. W. Herschel read before the Royal Society a ** Note on the Art of Photography, or the Application of the Chemical Rays of Light to the Purposes of Pic- torial Representation." In this paper Herschel states that he was unaware of what Fox Talbot had done, but hearing of Daguerre's discovery he had devised several processes for obtaining similar photographic records. He exhibited twenty-three photographs, made on chloride of silver and fixed in sodium thiosulphate, one taken through a lens and the rest copies of en- gravings and drawings (see Royal Society Pro- ceedings, 1 83 7- 1 843). Herschel, it may be added, had written a paper on the thiosulphates, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine for 181 9, p. 8.
Few records of Talbot's further experiments occur until February 19, 1841, in a letter to the
W. J, Mullins,
editor of the Literary Gazette, and published in The Philosophical Magazine, vol. 19 (1841) p. 90. In this he announces his discovery of a latent image, and in a paper to the Royal Society on the following June loth, fully describes the process. We quote first from his letter of Feb- ruary 19th:
** One day, last September. I had been trying pieces of sensitive paper prepared in different ways in the camera obscura, allowing them to remain there only a very short time, with the view of -finding out which was the most sensitive. One of these papers was taken out and examined by candle-light. There was little or noth- ing to be seen upon it, and I left it lying on a table in a dark room. Returning some time after . I took up the paper and was very much surprised to see upon it a dis- tinct picture. I was certain there was nothing of the kind when I had looked at it before; and therefore (mag^c apart) the only conclusion that could be drawn was, that the picture had unexpectedly developed itself by a spontaneous action. Fortunately I had recollected the particular way in which this sheet of paper had been prepared, and was, therefore, enabled immediately to repeat the experiment. The paper, as before, when taken out of the camera, presented hardly anything visible; but this time, instead of leaving it, I continued to observe it by candle-light, and had soon the satisfac- tion of seeing a picture begin to appear, and all the details of it came out one after the other."
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A Few Suggestions.
LJUI.Y
In his paper before the Royal Society (Royal Society Proceedings, 1841, and Philosophical Mag- azine, vol. 19, (1841, p. 164) Talbot describes this development process in detail. It is the calo- type process. We give the staple of it:
Preparation of the Paper,— Take a .sheet of the best writing paper, having a smooth suiface. and a close and even texture.
The water-mark, if any, should be cut off, lest it should injure the appearance of the picture. Dissolve 100 grains of crystallized nitrate of silver in six ounces of distilled water. Wash the paper with this solution, with a soft brush, on one side, and put a mark on that side whereby to know it again. Dry the paper cautiously at a distant fire, or else let it dry spontaneously in a dark room. When dry, or nearly so, dip it in a solution of iodide of potassium containing 500 grains of that salt dis- solved in one pint of water, and let it stay two or three minutes in this solution. Then dip it into a vessel of water, dry it lightly with blotting-paper, and finish dry- ing it at a fire, which will not injure it even if held pretty near, or else it may be left to dry spontaneously.
All this is best done in the evening by candle-light. The paper, so far prepared, the author calls iodized paper, because it has a uniform pale yellow coating of iodide of silver. It is scarcely sensitive to light, but, neverthe- less, it ought to be kept in a portfolio or a drawer until wanted for use.* It may be kept for any length of time, without spoiling or undergoing any change, if protected from the light. This is the first part o£ the preparation of calotype paper, and may be performed at any time. The remaining part is best deferred until shortly before the paper is wanted for use. When that time is arrived,
* Talbot afterwards found it an advantage to sun the iodized paper.— Eds.
take a sheet of the. iodized paper and wash it with a liquid prepared in the following manner:
Dissolve 100 grains of crystallized nitrate of silver in two ounces of distilled water; add to this solution one- sixth of its volume of strong acetic acid. Let this mix- ture be called A.
Make a saturated solution of crystalized gallic acid in cold distilled water. The quantity dissolved is very small. Call this solution B.
When a sheet of paper is wanted for use, mix together the liquids A and B in equal volumes, but only mix a small quantity of them at a time, because the mixture does not keep long without spoiling. 1 shall call this mixture the gallo-nitrate of silver.
Then take a sheet of iodized paper and wash it over with this gatio-nitrate of silver ^ with a soft brush, taking care to wash it on the side which has been pre- viously marked. This operation should be performed by candle-light. Let the paper rest half a minute, and then dip it into the water. Then dry it lightly with blotting-paper, and finally dry it cautiously at a fire, holding it at a considerable distance therefrom. When dry, the paper is fit for use. The author has named the paper thus prepared calotype paper, on account of its great utility in obtaining the pictures of objects with the camera obscura. If this paper be kept in a press it will often retain its qualities in perfection for three months or more, being ready for use at any moment; but this is not uniformly the case, and the author therefore recom- mends that it should be used in a few hours after it has been prepared. If it is used immediately, the last dry- ing may be dispensed with, and the paper may be used moist. Instead of employing a solution of crystallized gallic acid for the liquid B, the tincture of galls diluted with water may be used, but he does not think the results are altogether so satisfactory.
{To be continued.)
A FEW SUGGESTIONS*
BY E. M. MILLER.
JL MATED RS wishing to try color screen /% work, should use a glass screen. / % The cell, containing a variable solu- j^ \^ tion, is all right for experts, but for beginners it will prove difficult, and, like the stops of a camera, lead to endless useless experiments. In isochromatic landscap- ing, stick to a one-colored screen, and one stop, preferably //8. I use a Poco glass screen, and find it satisfactory.
So far I have used none but the Cramer iso- chromatic plate. The medium plate is best in all cases except when the wind is blowing, when, of course, the rapid plate and short ex- posure is preferable. I think in exposures of equal effect the rapid plate is more likely to fog by halation. Possibly the proper thing to do is
to back the plate; but I prefer to work out the problem on unbacked plates.
To get landscapes with clouds one must learn thoroughly the lens, the screen, and the plate. The fewer the variations the more likely will one be successful. My theory is that the ex- posure should be longer than that given by rule, and the development be slow, made so by a weaker developer and a retarder. I think I can recommend a few experiments that for the be- gfinner will be a short cut to desirable ends. The makers of the color screens give a rule for exposure, generally three times the exposure without screen. We will suppose the ex- posure, stop //8, to be i sec , then with screen it will be li sec. Now add one second and consider the correct exposure to be 2^ sec.
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A Few Suggestions
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PORTRAIT STUDY.
/r. VemacAy.
Make three exposures on one plate, one correct, one over, and one under-exposed. To figure the exposure to make at each withdrawal of the slide, draw the following diagram:
|
I si i plate |
2d 1 plate |
3d J plate |
|
C=il sec |
||
|
B = il sec |
B=ii sec |
|
|
A = i sec |
A = I sec |
A=i sec |
I St
withdrawal
2d withdrawal
3d withdrawal
Exposures chosen 4 sec 2| sec i sec
First decide your under-exposure, say i sec.= A; then at the third withdrawal of slide, or when whole plate is uncovered, an exposure of one second is given. Then to give 2^ sec. — the normal exposure — B must = ij sec. so that A + B = 2J. Now C,being the first exposure,must be such that A+B+C=4, or 1^ sec. In other words, you with- draw the slide ^ and expose i^ seconds; a second i and expose i J seconds; and when the slide is
out, expose one second; this gives the desired result. The diagram is very convenient for figuring each exposure. You simply figure it out backwards.
The greatest care must be taken not to move the camera; and for this reason a cap exposure is preferable. A few such exposures will teach a beginner more as to the correct exposure for /its lens and screen than he ever could learn by reading.
In development, a slow reducer is preferable. I have tried pyro. metol, and tolidol, and have concluded they were too rapid. I think the best developer is eikonogen or eiko-hydro. The results of my experiments lead me to combine my developer with more water and less alkali (or potash) than the usual formuhe, and I use the retarder. I make up 10 per cent, solutions of common salt, bromide of potash, and persul- phate of ammonia. To about 7 ounces of de- veloper I add about 6 drops of the bromide or salt, and i drachm of the ammonium persul- phate I rather think the salt is preferable as it seems to combine chemically less rapidly with the persulphate than the bromide. This
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A Few Suggestions
[July
Alexandre,
can be proven by adding half drachm salt and half drachm bromide, each to i drachm of the persulphate.
In the developer the ammonium persulphate decomposes slowly; therefore the developer should be used fresh, and not over four plates developed in one batch of developer.
For the best results the sun should be shin- ing on the landscape ; that is, do not expose while the sun is even slightly clouded. Re- member the effect of bright sunlight on a plate is altogether different through a color screen than without one. Through a screen the bright light is very much reduced in its effect on the plate. The finest pictures are to be had early in the morning or late in the evening, while the sun is shining, and large broken masses of clouds are in the sky.
One of my amateur friends complained he could not get good gradation in color screen work. Possibly he under-exposed. I get bet- ter gradation than in ordinary exposures. Very likely, he missed, not gradation, but sharp defini- tion. The color screen seems to diffuse defini-
tion— a decided advantage in landscape work.
An important point is when to stop develop- ment. The ordinary rules will hardly hold in this work. A plate very much undeveloped will give black shadows; over-developed, clouds that will not print. There is a point in develop- ment when the image begins to fade, and a point when it disappears. It is my opinion that development should stop half way between these points. An easy experiment will greatly assist in determining when to stop. Expose at the same time, same exposure, three plates. Fix one when the image becomes black; one when it begins to fade; and one about half way between. Use for all three the same developer.
If any photographer doubts the addition of the retarder to the developer is a benefit, let him try the following experiment. Expose three plates alike. Develop one without re- tarder; then add 6 or 8 drops of the bromide or salt and develop the second plate. Finally add I drachm of the ammonium persulphate and develop the third plate. I think the results will prove my method correct.
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Along the Clove
305
ALONG THE CLOVE.
BY NEWTON W. EMMENS.
[ARLY last Spring a friend who knows that I am continually on the lookout for new fields to conquer, asked me if I had ever been along the ** Clove " in State n Island, and on my answering in the neg- a t i V e, strongly ad- vised me to take an early opportunity of domg so, as it con- tained many pretty views well worth photog- raphing.
The ** Clove " is a name given to the series of small artificial lakes, made by damming a stream which runs through the valley of that name. Their use seems to have been to supply water- power for operating grist and saw mills in pre- revolutionary days ; but they are now used as ice ponds in winter, and as rendezvous for pic- nic parties in summer.
The stream heads in a swamp near the Clove pumping station, south-east of Richmond Turn- pike, and a short distance west of the Clove Road. It is easily reached by either the " Rich- mond Turnpike" or '* Silver Lake" car of the Staten Island Electric R.R. Co., from St. George.
There are three lakes in all, each being at a lower level than the preceding one, and sepa- rated from it by a stretch of the stream itself. The entire distance covered, some mile and a half, is replete with many a picturesque bit well worth an attempt at capture.
The first lake commences on the north side of Richmond Turnpike, about an eighth of a mile west of the Clove Road, and extending in a north-westerly direction. On the west side is a path which runs the entire length of the valley, and affords a convenient means of access. This lake was apparently formed by excavating the stream-traversed swamp, and building a dam at the lower end, thereby forming a shallow basin. Below the dam may still be seen the remains of the ** Brittain Grist-Mill."
The left bank, looking down the lake, is some- what marshy and heavily wooded, while the right is cleared land on which are situated an ice house, stable, etc. There is nothing particu-
larly interesting here, the pretty bits being found lower down.
Proceeding onwards the valley narrows con- siderably ; the sides becoming steeper and well wooded. In places the small trees almost meet overhead, and are reflected in the quiet waters of the slow-moving stream, while the sunbeams stealing through the fretwork of the branches and leaves give touches, here and there, of brilliant light, greatly adding to the charm of the scene.
vSoon after this we came to a place where the valley again widens out, and the stream forms the second lake. The banks here are consider- ably steeper than those of the first lake. At this place several pretty pictures may be taken, while the dam at the lower extremity of the basin is very picturesque, especially when there is water falling over it. Below the dam is the site of an old saw mill which has long since been demolished.
The distance between the second and the last lake of the series is very short, being only about TOO yards. It, however, includes one of the prettiest views to be obtained along the whole valley ; for, at the point where the stream enters the lake, some of the trees on the left bank over-
THC SMALL TBCCS ALMOST MEET OVCRHEAD."
Nrwion W. Emmtm.
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G. Maritsiaux.
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Along the Clove
307
A WOODLAND SCCNC.
Nrwton IV, Evtntens,
hang the water in a most graceful manner, while the right shore is a mass of foliage, and in the distance is seen a liquid mirror in a sylvan frame.
The south-western bank of this last lake, along which the path runs, is quite precipitous, and in some places it is not an altogether easy matter to keep one's footing, especially when burdened with a view camera and its attendant paraphernalia; still, the views and studies here to be obtained are so good as to make it well worth the effort, while the dam, when seen from below, makes an exceptionally fine subject. (See " The Dam," Photo Times, vol. 31, p. 567).
After leaving the lakes, the stream runs over a very rocky bed. The banks are only a few feet apart, and are covered with trees and bushes. Along this stretch many pretty photo- graphs may be taken, two of which are here shown. The photograph " A Woodland Scene," was taken from the foot-bridge seen in the illus- tration " A Rocky Stretch," and is a view look- ing up stream. On the left is shown the path I have mentioned.
The further course of the brook is not avail- able for the purpose of photography, as during the entire remainder of its journey to the Kill von Kull, it runs through private property.
In taking photographs in such places as along the Clove, where the trees are outlined against a bright sky, or where the sky shows through openings between the branches, a non-halation or backed plate is almost a " sine qua noUy' if the
best results are aimed at ; otherwise the tracery of the leaves and twigs will be completely buried under a mass of veiling caused by the over-exposure of these parts, rendered necessary in order to secure detail in the more poorly lighted portions of the picture. It is also ad- visable to use orthochromatic plates, as they render the color values much more accurately than the ordinary plate.
Determining the length of exposure to give will be found a most difficult matter without some such aid as that provided by the use of an exposure meter. In subjects of this class I always use a meter, and measure the strength of the light in the shadows ^ and in exposing, take care to allow a little more time than is called for by the meter. I then use a compara- tively weak developer (/. ^., one with about double the amount of water called for by the formula), to which is added one drop of a to per cent, solution of potassium bromide per ounce of diluted developer. la this way I am able to get a good brilliant negative with plenty of de- tail in both shadows and high lights.
If, after fixing and washing; there is any halation where the trees show against the sky, or if the sun-illuminated portions of the trees and rocks show in the print as white patches, I obtain the necessary reduction either by im- mersing the negative in a 1 per cent, solution of ammonium persulphate, or by the local ap- plication of Farmer's solution.
THK DAM or THE SCCONO LAKE.
Netvton W. Emmens.
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Lantern Slide Making
[July
LANTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGIN- NERS*
BY *• PRIMROSE HILL."
IX.— ILLUMINATING THE NEGATIVE WITH ARTIFICIAL LIGHT.
28. We now come to a matter of very great importance, viz., the choice of a light for illum- inating the negative from which our slide is to be made by means of lens and camera.
Daylight.— Onr choice first lies between day- light and artificial light of some kind. To those who can always work by daylight under fairly uniform conditions it certainly offers very weighty advantages. The cost is nil, there are no smoke, smell, fumes, as from gas, magne- sium, etc., etc. It is very actinic, and gives short exposures. It is wonderfully uniform when a card reflector is used, and so on. But it is terribly variable from day to day and hour to hour.
Artificial Light,— Vfe propose here to limit our attention to magnesium ribbon or wire, and gas or paraffin lamps. And, moreover, we shall
confine our remarks to two or three forms of apparatus that are quite easy for the ordinary home carpenter to make, and which we can speak of from personal experience.
t^Ctgnesinnt. — This has the following advan- tjageS: It gives a highly actinic light, is porta- ble, and fairly cheap. Its disadvantage is that it gives so much smoke-dust, which may become a nuisance. But if any fairly large and well- ventilated room can be used, this becomes trifling. In Fig. i we show a very simple ap- paratus, which to a considerable extent gets over the smoke trouble. In consists of a shal- low tin box, size according to requirements; for example, if reducing from whole-plate size
of negative, the box will be about 9x12x4 inches. In place of a front or lid, we have a sheet of ground or opal glass, which slides in two grooves at FF. In the ends, and near the top, two small holes are made, just large enough to permit a stout brass or iron wire to pass through and be bent over just outside each hole, as at GG. At the lower part of one side is a hole, H, just large enough to admit a hand. To use this apparatus we take, two, three, or more strips of magnesium ribbon and straighten them out fairly well, and then bend up one end of each piece to form a tiny hook. This hook passes over the wire, GG. We show the box with three pieces of magnesium ribbon in posi- tion. The piece of ground glass is now put in its groove, and the box placed so that the ground glass is parallel to, and a few inches away from, the nega- tive. We now set fire to the bottom end of the piece of magnesium, nearest to H, and when this has burnt out, to the next, and so on. A duster at H keeps the magnesium smoke dust confined in the box. And now here is a little tip about lighting magnesium wire. In Fig. 2 we show a home-made spirit lamp, designed for this particular purpose. It con- sists of a small, wide-mouth bottle. In this is a flat, well-fitting cork. The center of the cork is pierced by a round hole. In this hole is a short bit of hard glass tube, about an inch long and projecting above the cork about half an inch. Through this glass tube we pass the usual lamp cotton. We now take a piece of tin and cut out a semi-elliptical piece the same width as that of the cork, and about two inches long. This is inserted in the cork so as to stand nearly in a vertical position. The figure will make these points clear. Finally a stout bit of copper wire passes round the neck of the bottle, and the two parts are brought together and twisted one round the other. By means of this wire handle we can push or pull the lamp along with- out putting the hand inside the box. Now the object of the bit of tin in the cork is to prevent the light from the spirit lamp flame having any local effect on the illumination of the negative. After each exposure the box is taken to an open window or door, the glass front removed, and smoke allowed to escape. If the smoke is not
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Lantern Slide Making
309
objected to, we can of course do away with any such apparatus, and bum two or three pieces of magnesium in front of the negative, being care- ful of two things, viz., (i) to have a diffusing screen, either of ground glass or thin opal, be- tween the light and the negative, and (ii) to move the burning wire to and fro so as to equalize the illummation.
Gas, — The next apparatus is mentioned chiefly to advise the reader not to attempt this if he can adopt some other and better form.
In Fig. 3 we show the result of certain experi- ments. As before, NN is the negative-holder, with a diffusing screen of ground-glass about an inch or so from the negative; KK is a U-shaped arrangement of gas piping with three cross bars, in which are put three, two, and three nipples with bat*s>wing burners. In brief, it may be said that although this was the most satisfactory of several forms of lighting of this kind, they were all abandoned in preference for that next to be mentioned. This we show in Fig. 4. As before, the negative is held in a lid- shaped holder, NN. At each side of this we have an incandescent gas burner, AA, on a short stem, and let into a solid foot— a block of lead — E. In the left-hand side of the figure we show a general sketch of the arrangement. Here we see the two lamps so placed that no direct light from either of them can fall on the negative, which in this case requires no diffus- ing screen. But facing the negative we have a curved piece of white and clean cardboard. A few white threads connect the two top corners (not shown), and others at lower comers serve to keep the sheet properly curved.
If, now, we turn to the right-hand side of the diagram, we see the same arrangement in ground plan.
Now in order to get the best value of our two lamps, AA, we surround each of them with a sheet of bright tin, curved more or less into the form of a semi-circle, but slightly spiral, as shown at SS. The position of the negative is indicated at N, and the lens at L. Thus the lens, L, sees the negative against a bright white background, RR, illuminated by the two lamps, AA, partly by direct light and partly by re- flected light from SS.
It islmportant to keep the sheet tin reflectors, SS, as clean and bright as possible.
FIC.4
Where gas can be used, this method may confidently be recommended as worthy of a very serious trial. The apparatus is so simple that any one can rig it up for himself in a few minutes. There is some heat from the gas, of course, but no smoke or smell, and beyond the out- lay for the two bumers, the cost is insignificant. Of course, where gas cannot be obtained, we can use a couple of good paraffin lamps, but the yellowness of their light prolongs exposure, and we get some heat, and generally a good deal too much smell.
P. S.— One need hardly say that in the left hand side of Fig. 4 one of the tin reflectors has been removed so as to show the position of the lamp.
{To be Continued.)
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Notes on Flash-Light Photography
[July
NOTES ON FLASH-UGHT PHOTOGRAPHY.
BY H. MCBEAN JOHNSTONK.
IN cases, owing either to a poor arrange- ment of light or some other cause that makes it impossible to take a photograph in daylight, the use of magnesium powder has to be resorted to; and again in a great number of instances the use of flash-light will, if properly used, produce some very effective and striking results that cannot be obtained by the use of daylight.
It is hardly necessary to go into details as to what kinds of cameras and lenses should be used. That is done too much, and despite all the good (?) advice, the photographer generally uses whichever one he possesses that he thinks is most suitable. The best kind of flash-lamp (without unduly advertising any particular make) is one of the style where the powder is blown across the flame of an alcohol lamp. This only applies to cases when rooms of ordinary size are being photographed, and where large halls form the subject, the operator should either use a large flash-light machine or if the expense of buying one should happen to be unwarranted owing to its little use, he can very quickly set off any amount of powder by laying it on a strip of gun cotton and setting fire to the cotton. This does not distribute the light well however, and a properly equipped out- fit should have a machine attached to it.
A word may be advanta- geously said on the subject of plates. Always use orthochro- matic, not because you are taking flash-lights, but be- cause they should always be used when pictures, not pho- tographs, are required. And having advised the use of orthochromatic plates we are brought face to face with the powder question. The various commercial compounds where magnesium is associated with the usual oxidants, such, for example, as potassium chlo- rate, permanganate, or bichro- mate, produce a light rich in violet rays and consequently tend to produce an extremely non-orthochromatic result.
Attempts have been made to make such pow- ders more satisfactory in the reproduction of colored originals, by such expedients as the addition of salt of barium, sodium, or cupper, but the eff"ect has been to make the flash too slow in combustion and useless for moving ob- jects.
In '94 at a meeting of the Photographic So- ciety of Paris, M. Le Roy, an active member of the Experimental Commission of the Rouen Association, read an interesting communication on a flash-light powder which by its valuable properly of yielding a rich light in the yellow and green rays is especially suited for ortho- chromatic work.
After many experiments, M. Le Roy dis- covered that by mixing the magnesium with binoxide of barium as an oxidant, a powder was obtained that not only gave the required pre- dominance of yellow and green rays, but also burned with the necessary rapidity. When magnesium and binoxide of barium are mixed together in the proportions indicated in the equation BaO^ -f Mg = MgO -i- BaO, the mixture ignites as readily and bums as rapidly as a mixture containing chlorate, and at the same time is sufficiently stable not to detonate readily
THE APTCR-SUPPKR STORY TCLLING.
Flash at 9 P.M. Camtnar River,
Harry T. Miles.
Mataftzos, Cuba.
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Notes on Flash-Light Photography
311
when struck with a hammer. It is essential that the binoxide of barium should be anhy- drous and the mix- ture must be kept from the air, or water will be ab- s o r b e d and the powder will be- come useless. A good practical mix- ture is: Magnesium powder, i to 1.5 ; commercial bin- oxide, 5 parts.
It is somewhat doubtful as to whether flash-light portraits prove a success or not, and this may be left to the operator to de- cide. In case he attempts it, it is worth remember- ing that a plain background is much to be pre- ferred and that if it be a dark one, he
can have his light as much to the side of the instrument as he likes, without showing any of those obnoxious black shadows so common to this branch of wcrk. In making an ex- posure on a room it is best to have the light slightly behind and almost in a line with the camera.
Often a manufacturer requires a photograph of the interior of his shop with his men at work, and only those whose have attempted to do it by using poor daylight can properly appreciate the benefits to be found in the use of magnesium. Of course, in the case of very large rooms the work becomes difficult, but these do not occur in every day's work.
Thegeneral defect that the average flash-light photograph suffers from is underexposure, for though parts may be properly lighted and fairly well exposed, insufficient timing is the most ob- vious failing. The chances are that there has not been enough powder used and that the light has been badly distributed. In such a case those parts of the room near the source of illumination
THK BLACKSMITH.
are properly light- ed while the corners more distant are left in semi-dark- ness so that in the finished print the contrasts between these and the lighter portions are unpleasantly strong. This defect is often much ex- aggerated by un- duly prolonged development, the idea being that such a practice will obtain more detail out of the dark parts. But after a certain stage has been reached, to prolong the devel- opment is only harmful asthefully exposed parts be- come opaque and on printing the high light grada- tions are not pro- duced unless print- ing is carried on to such an extent that the thinner parts are cooked brown. In this case it would be much better to stop developing at an earlier stage and trust to masking the thin parts of the negative to improve matters.
The amount of powder used is too often less than is required, and with most flash lamps the waste is generally much greater than is thought, though this is as often due to careless- ness, as to the faulty construction of the instru- ments.
The light for first-class work must be well diffused— this is essential, if we are to avoid the sharp and unpleasantly cast shadows that pro- claim the badly made flash-light photograph. Now to get this use double the amount of powder that any book tells you to, and do not forget that if made in the day time the daylight softens the shadows of the brighter flash light. The proper position of the light has already been stated.
Some of the flash-light mixtures are decidedly dangerous, and in cases where a lamp is used
H. Mr Bean Johnstone.
Flash-Light Photograph,
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Exhibit of the New York Camera Gub
[July
and the powder burned in a confined space, this danger is great. It must not be assumed that there is only danger when the magnesium is burned in conjunction with other substances for the writer is aware of a very serious ex- plosion that occurred when the metal alone was burned in a small hand lamp.
To attempt to describe the uses to which flash-light may be successfully put, would in- deed be futile. Probably the largest piece of work recently attempted was the photographing of the St. Clair Tunnel by the New York Biograph Co., to be used at the Paris Exposition by the Grand Trunk Railway's Advertising Department.
Doubtless, the Paris Exposition will bring forth some other vagaries in the way of flash- light work.
EXHIBIT OF THE NEW YORK CAMERA CLUB.
BY CZARA AY RES JOHNSON.
THE first impression received in glanc- ing over the exhibition now on the walls of the Camera Club of New York, is of the excellence of the ex- hibit taken as a whole. Although the showing is not as large as last year, the standard is much higher and the individual ex- amples show sincere and conscientious effort in the right direction. The exhibit is somewhat uneven in tone, owing to the fact that examples of work by men comparatively new in the field, are presented beside those of the foremost photographers of the day.
With the exception of a few men such as Alfred Stieglitz, Joseph T. Keiley, and one or two others, the workers in this field seem hampered by too close attention to medium. The scope for individuaiity in photography is practically unlimited, what is wanted is more individuality. In art of any kind, as in life, the handling of material should be governed by ap- preciative feeling, else the Mephistopheles of technique deprives the body of its soul. In- dividuality of the right kind must of necessity point the way to the solving of its own attend- ant problems of expression.
In the present exhibition is shown a decided impetus in the direction of finer artistic feeling and better composition and consequently a freer handling of materials.
The imputation of ** chance*' pictures is one most resented by the photographer, yet what is
to be said of examples so contrary in value as those shown by Mr. Charles I. Berg? His ** Water Nymph " and " Carmen " show a fine use of materials, while his ** Child Study" violates every principle of composition, and has certain technical defects violently unpleasant to the eye of the beholder. Would Mr. Berg con- cede that the " Child Study ** is a " chance " picture, and the other two are intentional ?
** Ring Toss," the single picture shown by Clarence H. White, has a naive and original charm; though slightly heavy at the top of the picture, there is yet a fine feeling for composi- tion. Gertrude Kasebier shows several splendid examples of her work, the finest of which are *• The Manger" and a decorative panel entitled " Blessed Art Thou Among Women." William Cassard seems to make a specialty of hard cold backgrounds, giving the effect of reproductions for scientific study rather than for any artistic value. Although he makes continued use of straight lines, he does not handle them skilfully.
Joseph T. Keiley is well represented, his studies in glycerine brush work are broadly handled and have the fine quality of a wash- drawing. " The Study," by Frederick Colburn Clarke, also glycerine process of brush-work,' shows excellent judgment in the art of leaving out.
Alfred Stieglitz, however, towers above all other exhibitors in sympathetic treatment and technical perfection. "Snow, a Foreground Study " is very fine, the shadows forming splendid lines of opposition to the trunks of trees, and the atmospheric effect in this picture is delightful. His " Street Paver " shows excel- lent tone, and " September" has the charm of a fine etching. It is most distracting to have to search through the entire exhibit in order to follow the work of a single man. It would con- centrate the interest if the hanging committee would classify the pictures according to the exhibitors.
STILL LIFE COMPETITION*
A large number of entries were received, with a fair average of excellence. The report from the judges not having came to hand at the time of going to press we are compelled to postpone the announcement of winners until the August issue.
In the competition " Study of a Child " which was reopened to those " mentioned " in the original competition three sets have been re- ceived, and will shortly be passed upon.
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Stone Watts and Hedges
[July
STONE WALLS AND HEDGES.
BY PERCY LUND.
Illustrations by the Author.
]TONE walls may be very useful to farmers and others, but they are the bane of the photog- rapher. Not only do they obstruct the view and hinder progress, but are unsightly objects in themselves to boot, especially when of recent construc- tion— vulgarly con- spicuous with limy crosshatchi ngs. The loose, or ha-ha wall as Richard Jefferies calls it, is one degree better, for time soon makes it look aged and bent — turning straight lines into rather more graceful curves, and occasionally breaking gaps, though not always where the photographer wants them. He can do that for himself, if not very scrupulous.
But walls are even more stubborn things than facts — they cannot be avoided, and the photog- rapher has to reckon with them. Asa novice he is usually entirely blind to their evil ways, and even looks upon them with friendly eyes, as one does the boon companions of youth until ex- perience proves their base nature. Far from being anxious to avoid them, he appears on the contrary to be actually desirous of bringing bricks and mortar into his pictures, perhaps under the mistaken impression that solidity of that sort is an essential quality in any composi- tion. And that is not the worst. He will even go to the lamentable extreme of using a wall as a background. I am sure of this, because I have done it myself. But wisdom comes with ex- perience (as a rule) and long ago I learned, met- aphorically speaking, to see through a brick wall, and its ugliness. But I remember, and I expect you do also, dear reader, the time when in search- ing for a situation where' your friends could be advantageously placed for a " sitting,*' how wel- come the strength and uprightness of a wall or fence seemed to be. You could say " Stand there," and feel certain in your own mind, that
they could not, skittle-like, fall over backwards, if in focusing you brought the flange of that wonderfully wide-angled lens of yours too near the extremity of their noses. Or, on the other hand, was there something attractive about the flimsy halo that afterwards was ob- served to encircle their devoted heads where they projected above the coping stones and be- came outlined against the sky beyond ? At the club, you remember, they called it halation. But what are scientific terms to the man-in-the- street, whose forte is commonsense? The commonsense of the case was that that was how the camera took it and, as every one knows the camera cannot lie.
Most of us live to recognize youthful follies. Now we want to know how to avoid walls, fences, railings, and hedges when they hide the view we wish to take, or form objectionable straight lines in our foregrounds. These are really cases where one is tempted to say with the ingenuous lady in J^tnch, " Why not leave the foreground out ?" But since we can neither accomplish that feat, nor yet square the circle, let us turn to the practical part of the subject, and see what means of improvement actually lie within our power.
Walls and fences are blemishes upon the landscape in all except the wildest and most rural districts. In many mountainous places they hamper the photographer's operations to a grievous extent. This can be explained. The
TYPICAL YORKSHmC LANDSCAPE.
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PRCTTY SCENE SPOILtD BY FOREGROUND.
narrower the valley, the more jealously must the meads or cultivated land be preserved.
In the north, west, and south of Yorkshire, for example, you usually see undulating country something like the adjacent illustration.
And when you get into the field or the woods no small amount of energy is necessary to *' select" a picture, for the walls will cross at right angles, or if you are lucky enough to find a good, big, graceful tree, it is pretty certain to be uixder the shadow of a seven-foot erection that in nine cases out of ten, balTles every effort to exclude it from the field of view.
One of the loveliest vistas of rock and wooded slope I know in Westmoreland is marred by numerous parallel walls of the most pronounced type which utterly disfigure the foreground. This you will see pretty plainly in my next pic- ture. Nor can they be well avoided, for to
retreat further backward only brings about the inclusion of another half dozen, and by going forward, you lose the distant mountains behind those wooded hills in the middle distance. After a very painstaking search, I was able to effect some little improvement in the foreground, but there were still conspicuous walls, straight and stiff as they well could be. There are times when one can gain an advantage by mounting the wall, and fixing the cam- era upon it ; though a difficult feat it is,
PHOTOGWAPHIC COLOSSUS OF RHODES.
COUNTRY COTTAGE. FIRST ATTEMFT
unless at the corner or a field where two of them meet, and provide support for an extended tripod as well as permitting the photographer to place himself in a firmer attitude, like a mild imitation of the Colossus of Rhodes.
On other occasions, it pays better to beat a retreat, and from a field-length away work in some other objects to break up straight lines or broad acres devoid of interest. Let me illus- trate a case in point.
On one occasion I particularly wished to photograph a country cottage which was unfortunately situated in respect of a narrow roadway on two sides running between high walls. After sev- eral attempts, and as many failures, I produced the view shown in the adjacent illus-
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Stone Walls and Hedges
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eOUNTRV eOTTAOK. SKCOND ATTEMPT.
tration. But that did not satisfy me, for here the wall, although irregularly constructed, made a severe base-line, while a sign-post, plus an apartments ditto, introduced so many disfig- uring details that the rustic beauty of the whole was conspicuously reduced.
Therefore I went rather further away and found myself in the middle of a five-acre field without a single stick or stone to relieve the monotony or break up the wall's horizontal lines. The case appeared almost hopeless. But my eye caught sight of a fence, and an over- hanging pollard ash, so moving to a still more distant position, the elements arranged them- selves much more harmoniously — the wall became an insignificant detail, while the house itself reaped much pictorial advantage from the
more remote point of view, since it was **set" so as to show the beautiful scenery around.
What applies to walls, applies also in the case of hedges, though to a smaller extent. Hedges are more irregular, both in height and width, and consequently their lines fall less awkwardly even when crossing pretty well at right angles. But with a hedge one can sometimes do what would be absolutely impossible where a wall is concerned: that is, bring it into the immediate foreground, and so hide a large portion of the vacant field beyond.
My last picture is a practical example of this somewhat bold arrangement. It will be seen, of course, that the extreme and de- lightful irregularity of the hedgerow, whose budding shoots project in the most varied fashion, make the composition particularly successful.
And so, whether we are prepared to go " all the way," as they term it, and look upon the camera as an instrument for rivaling the painter, or stand firm at some intermediate position, we cannot but admit that mere selec- tion of point of view can accomplish great things: can enable one man to produce far more pleasing prints than another; and since selection itself is an art of no mean order, then photography in like degree becomes a pictorial art.
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The Neck In Portraiture
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A. IVande.
THE NECK IN PORTRAITURE.*
BY FRANK M. SUTCLIFFE.
j IN our previous article we spoke of the feet, but these only de- mand our attention when full length fig- ures are taken. We now come to the neck and shoulders, which appear in almost every portrait, whether full length, three-quarter, or bust. A view of the face only is rarely ^^^' ^' seen. If ladies only
knew of what great importance the drapery about the neck is to the production of a satis- factory portrait they would give it a little more attention before sitting for one. In nine cases out of ten the sitter, whether male or female, hides his or her neck with a collar — a collar which rests on the shoulders and reaches to the chin. This collar prevents any movement of the head. Now, as gracefulness depends on subtle and delicate movement, the photographer who tries to make his sitter appear natural, meets with an obstacle in the shape of a collar. If the sitter is slender, there may be room for a slight turn of the head, but if the case is other- wise the photographer, not wishing to give the sitter bodily pain, has to make his picture of an apparently stiff neck. In the case of ladies this
• Previous Article of this Scries : " The Feet," March, 1900.
Stiffness is still further emphasized by the sleeves and shoulders of the dress, which stand up on either side and make the imprisoned neck appear still more a prisoner. Till lately the writer had an idea that it was only English peo- ple who choked themselves with tight collars, and who added deformities to their shoulders for he had been told that foreigners considered no face complete without the support of its natural pillar, the neck; but he has seen lately the portrait of a modem Greek lady, which proves that other people dress as badly as we do.
There was more neck visible in this portrait than is usually seen in these isles, but the shoulders are quite equal to ours. Well might Ruskin say that " It was once the aim of all education, and of all dress, to make the human form stately and lovely. Now it has become the task of grave philosophy partly to depreciate or conceal this bodily beauty." Then he adds, " Man has become, upon the whole, an ugly animal, and is not ashamed of his ugliness." As the photographer has in most cases to take his sitters as he finds them, let us set to work to find out how to make the best of our sitters' collars and shoulders.
The first thing we notice is that the nearer the camera is to the sitter the more apparent and objectionable do the high shoulders and tight collars appear. Therefore, when a bust portrait only is wanted, the photographer's work is really more difficult than when the whole figure is included. When the sleeves are high and the camera near to the sitter, it is seen that,
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The Neck in Portraiture
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THE CYK OF DAY.'
Philadelphia Salon, i8<^.
Nellie Af. C. Kna/t/^em.
when the shoulders are turned away from the camera, the sleeve hides much of the shoulder and sometimes hides part of the face; we must then, if the sitter appears to be all shoulder or sleeve, turn her more round to the camera. Here another difficulty crops out. The immense but- tons on the dress, which before showed only their edges, now appear like a row of full moons. Consoling himself with the thought that the retoucher's knife can remove their brightness, the photographer has to decide whether the shoulders and neck look better when the sitter is seated or standing. If the neck is long and the shoulders sloping, in most cases it will be found better to ask the sitter to be seated, but if the neck is naturally short and the shoulders well made, it is well to take the sitter standing. Many people, too, appear more animated when standing than when seated. Some full-blooded people seem inclined to snatch forty winks when comfortably seated in the photographer's chair. In the early days of photography people did occasionally go to sleep during the long exposures. When the sitter stands there is less fear of the chin doubling, but double chins can be avoided by allowing the head to lean forward. This plan is sometimes
the only possible one with sitters whose noses incline upwards and whose chins are inclined to become doubled.
It is interesting to note that the head of the sitter may be made to appear larger or smaller by the amount of neck and bust uncovered or
covered. When the dress is darker than the face, a high collar makes the face appear large ; a lady in fash- ionable evening dress without any drapery over the shoulders has an apparently smaller head than she has in a morning dress, pro- vided that it is a dark one. No doubt the reason why statues ap- pear to have heads of better proportion than the average woman is due to this fact. The reason why a milkmaid or laundrymaid dressed in white or pale blue or pink appears to have a better-shaped head than her mistress is also due to this. When the face and hands are the only uncovered parts of
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the body and the dress is dark, they catch the eye and ap- pear larger than they really are. As we said, white gloves make the hands appear larger than dark ones. These things should all be attended to by our sitters; for if they do not make the most of themselves, how can the photographer be expected to make them appear at their It is the same with
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FIG. 3.
best in their pictures? the hairdressing ; just now everyone, whether they wish to be taken in profile or not, have their hair arranged in such a way that it looks the best from the side. When the sitter is taken from the front the hair is often hardly seen at all.
To return to the necks of our sitters, which may be divided into three classes— average, short, and long. For some unexplained reason, people often wish to appear in their portraits otherwise than what they really are. Instead of going to Sandow, or some other expert on the development of symmetry, to have the muscles on their thin necks developed and the excess of tissue reduced from their stout ones, they expect the photographer to do what exer- cise only can do. The photographer then tries to persuade his sitters to dress in such a manner as to hide, and so leave to the im- agination, any pecu- liarities of form. By means of loose drapery, or even a hat or bonnet- string, a long thin neck may be partly covered in such a way that does not catch the eye, for it is only when pecu- liarities are allowed to do this that they are objectionable in a picture. If the photographer can emphasize other parts or lead the eye away from those features which are not well devtrloped, then his portrait is considered successful. A skilful dressmaker can so ar- range the lines of the dress of even the stoutest woman that her stoutness is not noticed.
FIG. 4.
It is a mistake to suppose that a thin neck is made to appear thicker by being covered up; the shape of the opening of the dress has more to do with the apparent thickness of the neck than the amount covered or uncovered. See the difference between the two necks in figs. 2 and 3, and 4 and 5.
One of the most fatal mistakes a lady can make in dressing for a portrait is to have too much clothing on the top of her spine. The portrait, fig, 2, shows how the weight of clothing on the lady's back makes her appear quite round should- ered; the clothes ap- pear to add the weight of years.
Much depends on the way the neck is lighted, whether it appears thick or thin. Take ?ig, 3 as an example of a thin neck lighted from the front, and fig. 4 as an example of a medium neck lighted from the side. It is only wasting words to point ont the difference; it is appar- ent to all.
Much of the dignity and stateliness of a por- trait depends on the neck ; if this is quite hidden with clothing it is difficult to make our sitters look like Queens. Just imagine all the debutantes at a Drawing Room with their shoulders covered with a bundle of clothing. In my next article I shall speak of the arms, nose, lips, and mouth.
FIG. 5.
FUZZY PHOTOGRAPHY A FAD.
BY ROMYN HITCHCOCK.
THERE are fads in everything and photography is not free from them. Their contaminating influence is made evident in the May number of the Photographic Times. Artists are apt to be faddists more or less, but it is an open question whether the highest art is fostered by the encouragement of affectations, although these may for a time find favor among a few critics and an uncritical public which is easily led to affect admiration for almost any- thing, good or bad. Most of the reproductions in the May number of the Photographic Times
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impress me as rather unsuccessful imitation efforts rather than as good photographs. From one point of view, the proposition that there are no sharp lines in nature is true enough; but there are many lines which are sharp to the eye, and the highest skill of the optician has been exercised in the production of photo- graphic lenses which will accurately portray them. The requirement is, that every line and gradation of light shall be reproduced with the utmost possible fidelity.
But now, it is becoming a fad with some pho- tographers to make fuzzy photographs, with no part in focus, believing that thereby they are cultivating a higher phase of art. To the ordinary mind they are merely producing un- truthful results, and the eye is unconsciously strained in an endeavor to see the picture as clear and sharp as the scene itself would appear.
These efforts indicate a striving after effects which the camera is not capable of giving. The aim seems to be to imitate oil paintings, but the camera cannot successfully yield the same effects as the brush.
Take the picture on page 194 for example. It is not a portrait, it is an "effect" and not a pleasing one either, because the camera can do so very much better. The next illustration is fine in everything except the technical execu- tion— it is fuzzy. The plate opposite page 196 is not pleasing because of the long, white dress of the babe. On page 199 is another "effect." The face is strong and well modeled indeed, but in a portrait one would like to see not a mask but a head. The peculiar manner in which the face gets all the light and the hair remains a nebulous mass of shadow merged in the background is not natural.
On page 202 the artist is apparently working in the dark. True, the pose is admirable and the face expressive, but the darkness is incon- gruous for the pose.
If I had taken the picture facing page 205, " Sheep in Pasture," I would consider it a failure. One knows they must be sheep, but we do not see such fuzzy sheep in nature. Compare this with the excellent photograph of sheep on page 213.
On page 206 is another "effect;" but as a picture there is nothing in it. The under-ex- posed sunset on page 215 is not very pleasing to my eye. Neither do I care much for the pretty bit on page 221, simply because it could be much better done.
The plate opposite page 222, first bronze medal "Study of a Child," is fuzzy and out of
focus, and the face is not well lighted. It is another "effect" but not a good portrait.
One does not know what to say of the poster or book-cover effect opposite page 228. Doubt- less it is admirable of its kind, but the kind is very bad and only to be tolerated because we have recently become accustomed to that flat kind of picture.
On page 230 is another bronze medal picture^ but evidently the artist neglected to touch out the white spots, which are highly detrimental.
My contention concerning the portraits re- ferred to is that they are afl'ectations as photo- graphs. The landscapes are unlike anything in nature or art.
Doubtless such criticism as this may be roundly scored by those who favor the par- ticular kind of photographic work herem re- ferred to; but I still maintain that the proper use of the camera is to show things as they are. as the eye sees them, and not to juggle in the focusing in an effort to get something differ- ent. At the most the result cannot be more than a very imperfect imitation of hand paint- ing. Why not then make photographs sharp, clear, and as true to life and nature as possible ? The portrait on page 208 is good camera work. That on page 209 would be excellent but for that horrid big hat and ribbon bow which the misguided woman wears.
Photographers have it in their power to do a deal of good if they would only refuse to make portraits of women with enormous headgear and costumes which, though in fashion, may be offensive to elegant and refined taste.
We have made room for the above article, not because it any way coincides with our opinion, but because it expresses the sentiments of many amateur photographers towards the new or pictorial movement. The whole amateur pho- tographic world is now divided into two camps, the larger one being totally against the work of the new order — failures as they called them — and in many cases without even willingness or broadness of mind enough to listen to the argu- ments of the other party. This lack of broad- ness is also very noticeable in the smaller camp, which will often refuse to acknowledge the sterling value of many pictures made according to old ideas, that is, purely mechanical pictures, where composition and choice of subject are about the only means of individual expression. There is much to be said " pro and con," and we gladly open our pages to a discussion of the matter — (Editor.)
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The British Journal of Photosfraphy. — Engflandt June lst«
This number contains a first notice on Dr. Emerson's Exhibition of Photographs at the rooms of the Royal Photographic Society, from which we quote :
The last decade of the closing year of the century has witnessed many curious happenings in photography, and especially in that section of it which we have in immediate contemplation. It has produced salons and •* schools,'* fuzzitypers astigmatographers, Artigueites, gum-bichro- mate worshippers, photo-fakers, the /-64 man, the diffu- sion-of-focus man, the mud-flat person, and other phenomena. And then we have read, alas! about pic- torial photography by the mile without perceiving any- thing but printed words in the whole mass of it. There have been forewords to catalogues, accusations of im- placable hostility to pictorial photography, and angry references to a mysterious " B. J . " cast of thought, of all things in the world! The comicality of these little tem-
pests seen retrospectively is irresistible. But now at the end of all this absurd and wearisome farce-acting comes the sincere and earnest worker, to whom for his arresting thoughts and examples photographers owe so much, to show by the simplicity and truthfulness of his printed productions what is most abiding and convincing in pic- torial photogpraphy.
Ten and twelve, in some cases fifteen, years have passed since Dr. Emerson produced these photographs, and to- day they teach us several lessons : One of them is that in the matter of pictorial photogpraphy we have been moving in a circle, and that after all the varied experi- mentation to which we referred just now pure unfaked photography as a means of producinga truthful pictorial result, gives a photographer wonderful powers. Neither Dr. Emerson's negatives nor his prints were ever worked on, and yet in some cases the very striking contrasts of light and shade, and the delicacy of some of the finer gradations would appear to be impossible of production without careful handwork on the negative. But, no; Dr. Emerson has always taught, and followed out his own doctrine in practice, that in delicacy of rendering of cer-
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NOW IS THK VCAII'S RCCCSSIONAL."
A. D. Chaffee.
tain subjects, pure photograph y*ex eels painted work and other means of making pictures. And this is amply borne out in the present exhibition.
But the most remarkable feature of this exhibition, if we may make use of a convenient •* bull," is what it does not contain— the "fuzzy" photographs. Of all the stupid mendacities of which Dr. Emerson was at one time made the object— and we are obliged to say that our own pages were formerly abused in this way — none clung so tenaciously to his name as that of being the in- ventor of "fuzzy" photography. We can even recall such a phrase as "defunct Emersonism at the Salon." as if to say that some of the foolish blurs that were shown at the latter exhibition were the results of Dr. Emerson's example of teaching. Nothing of the sort. Fuzzy photography is not on view at Russell Square just now. In one picture only is the background de- signedly thrown out of focus, but of the evil thing whose only claim to notice lay in its being hopelessly blurred there is no trace. Truth to tell, some of these photo- graphs of Dr. Emerson's would in parts do credit to a per-
fectly corrected anastigmat, and yet they are full of pictorial qualities.
The Practical Photogfrapher. — EngfIand,June«
An amalgamation with the Junior Photog- rapher, to take eflPect in August, is announced in this number. An interesting and valuable article on ** Geological Photography " is con- tributed by A. vS. Reid. " Retouching for Be- ginners," by T. Crawford Erwin, is a clearly put description of this needful accessory to portraiture. J. Stein writes on** Cycling and Photography,'* showing by illustrations how to arrange the camera on the wheel.
** Geological Photography,'* by A. S. Rdd, M.A., F.G^
Speaking of geological photographic work generally, the following hints may be given : (i) The photographer
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should himself be, or should be directed by a trained geologist, otherwise his work may be not only useless, but worse than useless—/. ^., deceptive. (2) The best camera to use is decidedly the photographer's own camera, the one he is used to; but it should be light to carry, yet rig^id when set up. capable of considerable ex. tension for lenses of long focus, fitted with rising and falling front and ample ** swing-back . " (3) Isochromatic plates (with the necessary color screens) should be used, and all plates should be backed. (4) A small camera, provided with a first-class lens, will often, by means of subsequent enlargement, yield even better results than a larger apparatus, andinhilland cliff work the size of the camera becomes important. (5) The camera must not be allowed to replace, but merely aid and abet, the note- book ; careful measurements are often necessary, compass directions must be taken, rough sketches are of immense assistance, and when possible ''a scale " of some sort should be included in the picture. (6) Print- ing, of course, must be by some permanent process, such as platinotype or carbon.
The Photosfram* — Engfland, June*
The frontispiece is a handsome reproduction of Eva Watson's ** Profile Study." H. Holcroft writes on "Halation," showing^ how it may be minimized or prevented, and how it may be cured if already existing in a negative. F. M. Sutcliffe writes on " The Neck in Portraiture." which our readers will find in this issue of the Times.
Gtmera Obsctsra — Holland^ ApriL
This journal, which is printed in four lan- guages— French, English, German, and Dutch — has made rapid progress, and can certainly claim to be one of the leading in foreign pho- tographic literature. In the French Section of this issue, original articles by M. Bucquet, C. Klary, and C. Gravier appear, not, however, of particular importance. In the English Section, Chapman Jones writes on the " Defining Power of the Lens; H. Snowden Ward gives his rea- sons for claiming Fox Talbot as one of the Fathers of Photography, and Geo. Scamell has a paper on ** The National Photographic Record Association. In the German Section, Karl Heller produces some rather remarkable ideas regarding the value of retouching. In the Dutch Section, the most important article is that by W. E. Asbeek Brusse, treating on " The Use of Photography in Ballistics."
We regret that Mr. Hartmann should have seen fit to make many unpardonable misstatements in his article which makes it valueless to the readers of the Rundschau, as a perusal of it gives one a very false impression of our Amer- ican workers. It is a pity that this otherwise clever writer should occasionally vent a malici- ous spleen in this manner. It is too much like stabbing a man in the back. The only other article in this number is by Dr. Ed. Aming on " A New Diapositive Plate."
Photographische Rundschau*— Germany, May.
The illustrations in this number are devoted entirely to American work, and there is an ac- companying article by Sadakichi Hartmann.
Das Atelier des Photographen — Germany, May*
Dr. A. Miethe writes on " A Positive Dusting- on Process, with the Use of Bronze"; Carl Spohr, on "Gum -bichromate Printing," and H. Quatz, on " A Modification of the Metol De- veloper." The illustrations which are principally professional portrait work are always excellent.
** A Positive Dusting-on Procefs with the Use of Bronze,^ by Dr* A. Miethe. As a support for the picture, a black or a colorless glass plate is the best. The bronze to be used should be in as fine a powdered state as possible, the result depend- ing largely on this. Both genuine and imitation bronze powder can be used, also, aluminum bronze. The colored bronzes are also available if fine enough. A few good badger hair brushes, one of about 30 mm. diameter and several fine pointed ones are needed. The glass plate on which the picture is to be made must first be thoroughly cleansed by rubbing it with nitric acid, rins- ing it under the water tap, and then polishing it with French chalk and methylated spirit. Brush the plate before using. The coating is made up as follows :
White 8U|i^r 10 fibrins.
Pure dextrine 10 firms.
Water isoccms.
After this has been dissolved by heating add 30 ccms. of a 10 per cent, solution of bichromate of potash. The fluid in this condition is not sticky enough, and the de- velopment would therefore be very slow. To help this, add a certain quantity of glycerine, from 10 to 30 drops according to the dampness of the air. The more gly- cerine the quicker the development but the easier can mishaps occur. The less glycerine, the slower the de- velopment and the more difficult it is to obtain detail in the shadows.
Coat the plate in a similar manner to collodion and in a semi-dark room, dry it on an inner plate kept heated to 60° (C). When dry, and while still warm bring it in contact with the negative and expose in the sun for about 90 seconds, in diffused light for 8 to 12 minutes, a little practice is needed to hit off right. The exposed picture must be developed immediately. It is taken into the dark-room and treated under gas or oil light. After the plate has cooled the bronze is brushed over the plate, using the large brush with light equal strokes. Parts of the picture then generally begin to show. If not, repeat the operation every three minutes, leaving the plate alone in between whiles. If only a weak image develops
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this way, the picture was either exposed too long or the quantity of glycerine was insufficient. If the image becomes at once visible with all detail on the first brushing, the exposure was undertimed, or too much glycerine was used. By normal developmeiit, the picture should appear in about lo minutes with three or four dustings-on. As soon as the picture is ready, brush the superfluous powder off carefully and take the pic- ture for a few minutes into daylight. The surface of the picture can then be protected by varnishing or not, as required. When a colorless glass plate is used, the back should be given several coatings of black enamel or black asphalt varnish diluted with turpentine. The process is easy and very inexpensive.
The Photo-Bcacon.^unc»
This number is essentially a picture one, giv- ing some fifty reproductions from the recent Chicago Salon. These pictures are, however better shown in a separate Souvenir published by the same concern. Mr. Todd's criticism cf the individual pictures is a disappointment, being in fact no criticism at all, merely an annotated catalogue, the annotations being of the nature of " * A Gray Day ' very pleasing "; " ' Snow Storm at Dusk ' a good snow picture," etc., with oc- casional lapses into ridicule.
Photo Era— Junc^
This number of our Boston contemporary is an excellent one. Osborne Yellott writes on the work of C. Yarnall Abbott, who has an un- doubted claim to be considered one of our lead- ing amateurs. Daniel F. Gay has an article on Portraiture by Flash-light, from which we quote below. H. G. Abbott has something more to say on the recent Chicago Salon. He asks whether A. Stieglitz' well known picture, ''Scurrying Home," would not be improved by cutting off some of the foreground .> Decidedly no. Mr. Abbott may rest assured that this picture has been studied over so often by Mr. Stieglitz that any improvement possible would have been made if it had been needed. The proportions of the picture are entirely destroyed by cutting down the foreground. Edith W. Taylor has a review of a recent exhibition at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts, in which the almost general dissatisfaction of the judging is made a prominent feature. Edward W. New- comb scores some good points in his "Chats on Higher Ideals." The editorials are interesting in that they show an utter lack of knowledge of Camera Notes and its purpose, Mr. Keiley, Mr. Stieglitz, and what the Era calls the New American School in photography.
Portraiture by Flash light, by Daniel F. Gay.
The secret is to hang in front of the flash two thicknesses of cheese-cloth about three feet square. The flash illuminates this, and the cloth ihen becomes the source of light for the sitter. This is equivalent to a window three feet square, and destroys the sharp shadows given by an unprotected flash. If the light is close to the subject— four or five feet— it gives round lighting, as shown by the baby's head. This picture and the other two are shown merely as results which have been secured with tiiis method by one unskilled in portraiture, and in no sense are they to be taken as the final limit of possible results.
Any form of flash-lamp may be used which does not •*spit** so badly as to set fire to the cheese-cloth. It should be entirely under control as to the moment of flash, so that a fleeting expression may be caught. With the -^tna flash lamp the powder is put in the pan, and a plunger bearing a flame is driven into it by pressure on a bulb. The plunger has a tuft of asbestos, Avhich is to be wet with alcohol and lighted. In use the alcohol consumes too rapidly, and it is better to remove the asbestos and substitute on the end of the plunger a short piece of **punk," (some relic of Fourth of July.) This glow is not suffi- cient to ignite the powder, so it is necessary to lay in the powder a bit of soluble gun-cotton, which is very inflammable. With this combina. «^. /. Muiiins. tion one can wait five minutes, or even longer,
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Our Monthly Digest
325
Mrs. Claude Gaich,
Entered in
" Study of a Child"'
Competition^
for the pose or expression, and be sure the powder will ignite the instant the bulb is pressed.
For proper use the lamp must be on some sort of stand which can be raised or lowered and moved about the room. It is very necessary to have a shield to prevent the flash shining directly into the lens. The compound used must be a quick explosive: for, if it burns slowly, the subject will wink or flinch. The aluminum flash powders burn quickly, and leave less smoke than the magnesium powders.
The amount of light may be controlled by using more or less powder, and the neces«;ary quantity can be de- termined only by each for himself, varying with the
tone of the room, lens opening, and distance of the camera, as well as the distance of the lamp from the subject. The lens must be used wide open, and if no larger than// 16 it will be difficult to secure good work even with a large amount of powder.
Chats on Higher Ideals, by Edward W. Newcomb.
What advance can be expected in artistic photography if the serious work is to be confined to a few hard work- ers in the future, as in the past? Have we not yet learned our lesson from foreign exhibitors and from our best workers in America, who seem to fear no competi-
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Ctub Memoranda
327
tion at all, and, in consequence, are acquiring gp'eatly exaggerated opinions of themselves and wearing large headgear ? Harm is done all around by this state of affairs. Our best men are degenerating and our unde- veloped talent is lying dormant. There is a remedy for all this; but it costs study, time, patience, and persever- ance, all of which the true "fiend" despises. He took up photography for the amusement to be had from it. and not for serious work. He knows it all, yet all he knows can be appropriately expressed by minus terms only. He may be likened unto the boy who went to work for a lawyer, and, after finishing his first day's work, replied lo the friend who asked him how he liked the profession : " It's no good. I'm sorry I learned it." To this class, then, I cannot appeal. They will play with their cameras until tired, and then abandon thera and take pains to discourage every one they meet who has a camera or contemplates the purchase of one.
But there are photographers who only need encourage- ment and direction to really undertake serious work in earnest, and it is to that class that I would speak of ideals. As I have said, I consider landscape pure and simple at least third in importance in either photography or painting, much more unimportant in the former than the latter; and after a fair apprenticeship at it I think a great portion of one's time should be given to the study of pictures that tell a story or portraits that have real artistic merit. In almost everything one does and does well the need of some new field to conquer makes itself apparent. It becomes tame when we have no struggle, no need of deep thought— a certainty, in fact; and in no other amusement save photography would such flat sport be endurable. Yet year after year our camera- users content themselves with landscape, street scenes, architecture, or any ready-made pictures they can point at, ignoring the harder but more satisfactory work of building their own pictures.
CLUB MEMORANDA.
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES Is the Officially Appointed Organ of : the HARVARD CAMERA CLUB, Cambridge, Mass.; the BROOKLYN CAMERA CLUB, Brooklyn, N. Y.
HARVARD CAMERA CLUB*
Harvard LTniversity, Cambridge, Mass.
The club contest for best collections of Yard pictures, which was open to all members of the University, has met with unexpected success, some 230 pictures being entered. The prizes for best collections of pictures of buildings and college scenes, were awarded by the judges. Prof. F. C. de Sumichrast and Mr. W. C. Lane, Librarian, as follows :
First prize, silver medal to W. B. Swift (with special commendation); second prize, silver medal, to J. Burroughs; Honorable Mentions to M. Buckley and R. P. Perry. Mr. Swift's col- lection was the most complete and artistic set of college pictures yet taken. This contest was instituted in order to obtain pictures for th6 library historical chest which is presently to be sealed up, and opened in the year i960. Be- cause of the success of this contest the club will probably make it an annual affair. ^
At the invitation of the Manchester Camera Club, we sent a loan collection of sonxe twenty- five pictures to their annual Spring Exhibition. The award consists in the acceptance of the best prints.
Mr. J. H. White has had his *^ portrait *' ac- cepted at the annual Pittsburg Amateur Photo- graphic Salon.
As the meetings end and the college year draws to a close, the club feels much gratitude for the unusual progress of the year — gratitude
first to our instructors and professors who have taken time from their duties in a very busy year to lecture to the club and its friends; se- condly, to the magazines which have widened our photographic knowledge and opened op- portunities for us to exhibit elsewhere; and, lastly, to the many outside friends who by their sympathy and attendance at lectures have con- tributed to the marked success of the year.
H. W. Eliot, Jr., Cor. Sec.
TO SECRETARIES OF CAMERA CLUBS.
The Editor is desirous of having a very com- plete list of all Camera Clubs in this country and Canada for the American Annual for 1901. Printed forms have been sent out to such clubs as are known, but there are still many clubs in existence, not known to us or outside their own territory. Any secretary not having received a printed form from us, is hereby requested to apply for such a form for filling out with parti- culars, etc., of his club. The attention of Secre- taries of Camera Clubs is also drawn to the above heading. It is always of benefit to a club to have its doings, if of sufficient interest, made public. It enlarges its scope, attracts new members, makes the club known to the outside world of photographers.
We shall also be at all times pleased to re- ceive memoranda for insertion under the above heading. — The Editor.
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Demonstration in Gam-Bichromate
[July
DEMONSTRATION IN GUM- BICHROMATE
BY HENRY WENZEL, JR.,
j4/ the Rooms of the Photographic Club of Baltimore,
A MOST enjoyable and instructive talk was given by Mr. Henry Wenzel, Jr., of Brooklyn, at the rooms of the Photographic Club, of Baltimore, on Saturday evening, May 12, 1900. The subject of Mr. Wenzel's talk was ** In the Dark-room and Out/' and gave him, as he prefaced his remarks by saying, a wide range in a talk before photographers. Mr. Wenzel began his talk by a brief discussion of the merits and qualities of various brands of plates, papers, developers, etc., and showed a number of prints and transparencies bearing out the points made by him. The members were especially inter- ested in the results from the use of the Lovell "backed " plate, which had just been placed on the Baltimore market. He also spoke briefly and to the point on methods of development and other branches of work in the dark-room. He discussed the merits of lenses of various makes and grades, and showed some very re- markable results achieved by the use of some of the modem high-grade lenses.
Mr. Wenzel then took up the subject of gum- bichromate, to which he devoted the remainder of the evening. He soon showed that he was a master of the process, his finished work being, in the opinion of those present who had seen similar work, superior to any ever shown in America. At the demonstration Mr. Wenzel took paper which had been coated by himself and printed according to his directions, and made four or ?i\^ prints for the edification of the members of the Club. Some he developed by plain washing without other manipulation, in order to show the simplicity of the process. But the most interesting part of the demonstra- tion was the control of the prints which he exercised by the use of brushes of varying qualities and fine jets of water applied locally. By these means he changed entirely the charac- ter of different prints from the same negative, and gave in a simple manner an idea of the extent to which the personal element enters in the production of desired results. His demon- stration clearly showed that as a means of artistic expression in photography the gum process stands unrivaled.
Mr. Wenzel was liberal enough to give to members of the Club desiring the same specific directions and formulae for coating the paper, mixing the pigments, etc., information which can be found in a definite form nowhere in the books, and which he himself has acquired by dint of hard work and patient perseverance in his experiments.
The talk as a whole was vastly enjoyed by the Club generally, and the members feel themselves fortunate in having had the opportunity of seeing actually worked a pro- cess which was to many of them a closed book. So far as is known this is the first formal demonstration of the gum process ever given in this country by any one having any claim to a mastery over its difficulties.
The Baltimore Club is at the present time in a flourishing condition, having a membership of over eighty, a majority of the members being active workers and regular attendants at the Club meetings. Photographers from other cities, amateur and professional, . visiting Baltimore are always welcome at the Club rooms on Tuesday evenings, and will usually find something on hand both entertaining and instructive.
Percy M. Reese, Vice-President,
HCNRY WCNZCL. JR.
C^<w. E. Fairman,
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Oar Book'Iltustrating Competition
329
"■©■. BON or BATTLC." A. R. Dugmort.
\ OUR BOOK.ILLUSTRATING \ \ ^< v< COMPETITION. v< ^< \
1st Prize: $100 Gtsh and the Photosfraphic Titnes Silver
MedaL 2d Prize: $50 Cash and the Photosfraphic Times Bronze
MedaU 3d Prize: $25 Cash and the Photogfraphic Times Bronze
Medal. 4th Prize: The Photogfraphic Times Silver MedaL 5th Prize: The Photo^fraphic Times Bronze Medal.
jt jt jt
LAST DAY FOR SENDING IN PICTURES, SEPTEMBER Jst, J900.
FOR the benefit of such of our readers as have not seen how few conditions are imposed on competitors for the prizes offered conjointly by the Photographic Times and Double- day, Page & Co., we give below the following information :
In the book -illustrating competition, it has been decided to extend the time limit to Sep- tember I St. This is done, by reason of the ac- tion of two of the selected books, taking place in midsummer.
THE PHOTCXJRAPHIC TIMES AND DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO*
In association oflFer the above prizes
For a Series of Photographs lUustratiog any one of the books mentioned below:
I. THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA.
By Booth Tarkington.
A story of Indiana city and town life. The hero is a young newspaper editor, whose hostility to the White Caps of the neighborhood leads to an attack, when he is kidnapped and severely injured. During his absence from his newspaper, the paper is edited by a young woman, with various complications, the plot presenting many opportunities for clever composition and illus- trating.
II. BOB, SON OF BATTLE. By Alfred Ollivant.
This is primarily a dog story and the central figure is Old Bob, a famous sheep dog, with extraordinary intel- ligence and character. The scene of the books is laid in England.
III. BLIX. By Frank Norris.
The love-story of a young Californian reporter-novelist. Both in the chance for picturesque views and in a most exciting fishing scene there are unusual chances here for the photographic illustrator.
These books have been selected with the purpose of presenting the best opportunity in several fields of work and subject, to call forth the best powers of selection and composition in the individual, which will in itself be an educa- tion to the eye and mind, and stimulate the effort of showing new effects such as years of ordinary camera practice cannot give.
The competition is open to tilery one in this and other countries, and it is hoped may prove to be the opening of a new and rich field to the photographer heretofore monopolized by the artist in black-and-white and water color.
The pictures submitted will be judged by the Editor of the Photographic Times; Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, the well-known amateur; and Double- day, Page & Co.
The copyright of the prize-winning set shall be vested in the publishers.
No conditions are imposed on competitors,
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^otographing Machine Parts.
I July
but the following few rules are set to govern the competition :
1. The competition will close Sept. i, 1900, and all entries must be made on or before that date at the office of the Photogkaphic Times, 60-62 East Eleventh street, New York.
2. Competitors are not limited in the sets of pictures to be sent in, It is desirable that any one set illustrat- ing a book should consist of at least eight pictures, and as many more as the individual competitor thinks fit.
3. All entries must be made post or express paid.
4. Accompanying each set shall be the title of the book and a sealed envelope containing the full name and address of the author, together with a pen-name, or motto, etc., which latter is to be plainly written on the back of ^ac/t photograph, together with the title.
5. The copyright of the prize-winner shall belong to the publishers without further purchase, and the Pho- tographic Times shall be at liberty to reproduce in its pages any of the photographs submitted. The sets not winning prizes will be returned to the authors on de- mand.
6. The publishers reserve the right to purchase any of the photographs submitted (other than the prize-win- ning sets) at a price to be mutually agreed upon.
7. Photographs should be as far as possible on smooth-surfaced papers and neatly mounted on stout cards.
The three books mentioned here are published by Doubleday, Page & Co., and can be obtained from them or at any book-dealer's. Or you can read the books at the nearest library. Don't be afraid to compete. There is both money and fame in it.
which engineers delight, which is otherwise not easily obtained without blocking out. — Photography.
PHOTCXJRAPHING MACHINE PARTS.
IN photographing machine parts and similar objects the apparatus shown in the sketch herewith, which explains itself , will often be found of great service. The valve which is being depicted is hung by a thin string against a pane of glass in the frame, and being lit from in front, and with a
white reflector behind, appears with that dead white background without any shadow, in
NOTE.
We are advised by Dr.. Ludwig Ellon, the inventor and manufacturer of pyrocatechin, to the effect that pyrocatechin and carbonate of potash, without any addition of sulphite of soda, makes a developer that works quickly and produces negatives which are ver>' clear and of a brownish color. The formula is as follows :
Pyrocatechin solution of 2^ (2 grammes of pyrocatechin in 100 c.c. of water).
Carbonate of potash, 10^ (10 grammes car- bonate of potash in 100 c.c. of water).
For use take equal parts of both solutions.
The negative must not be left in the developer too long, as the brown color has better printing qualities than the gray-black. The character of the negatives produced by this developer is similar to that of the wet collodion plate and therefore they print very quickly. Dr. Ellon further remarks that he had worked out two formulae by the aid of which the best results are obtained on developing papers such as the Argo, Vinco, or Nepera Velox. One formula is to produce bluish-black tones. For the bluish- black tones the exposure should not be too long, and the developing solution should be as follows :
Solution A.
Pyrocatechin 2 gp*ammes
Sulphite of soda, crystals 2/5 grammes
Water 100 grammes
Solution B.
Carbonate of soda 10 grammes
Water 100 grammes
Directly before using mix 20 c.c. of Solution A, and 5-10 c.c. of Solution B. After develop- ing, the prints should be fixed and washed well.
The next formula is for producing platino- black warm tones as follows :
Mix immediately before using, 20 c.c. of pyro- catechin solution 2 per cent, and 20 c.c. of car- bonate of potassium solution 10 per cent. The above is mixed with 5-10 parts of water.
We trust that our readers will get some benefit out of this information, for pyrocatechin is with- out any question, the best developer in the market.
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THE TRUANTS.
IV, lVo(/gang.
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In the June issue, our readers will find an opening article on '* Photographic Fancy Work," which Mr. Howard Park Dawson, of New Haven, Conn., Editor of the Photographic Department, Young People, had engaged to write for us, the series to run through several issues. We had anticipated much pleasure and profit for our- selves and our. readers from these articles, and it comes therefore as a shock to us to learn just be- fore going to press of the sudden death of Mr Dawson on May 3d. As Mr. Dawson had only just begun work on these articles, we understand that no further manuscript will be forthcoming and that article in the June issue will, to our great regret, be the first and last of the series.
The winter season, just passed, has been pro- lific of photographic exhibitions, good, bad, and indifferent. Catalogues and reports have been coming in every day from the smaller towns, and Secretaries of Clubs, who read this, will please understand that these reports are left unpublished merely through lack of space. We would like here to call attention to the fact, however, that some of the bigger exhibitions held throughout the country are left unnoticed because the Secretaries or Managers do not see fit to send us any information regarding them, and we have not a press clipping bureau at our elbow to keep us informed of all that is passing in photographic circles. Where exhibitions or salons are open to all amateurs or professionals alike, we shall always be glad to insert particu- lars as soon as sent in to us.
On another page we have drawn attention to the controversy at present raging between the too zealous advocates of the new school and the somewhat too conservative adherents of the old. To those sufficiently broadminded to admit of there being room for both schools, the whole affair is intensely amusing. Some of our con-
temporaries have waxed wroth at the position taken by some of the leaders of the new school. Another has become ultra facetious. Even the foreign journals have taken up the refrain. For ourselves, we favor neither the one school nor the other, seeing good in both when not driven to the extreme, but we freely open our pages to those of our readers who care to express an opinion on the merits or demerits of either side.
Our Record of Competitions increases month by month, until it now occupies a full page of our journal. The amount of money now being offered amateurs in photographic competitions runs into the thousands, every kind of subject being offered, but curiously enough, pictures of the old or mechanical school are almost certain to be the only ones which will reap the benefit. Editors unfortunately seldom see merit in work of the new school.
In this issue we have reproduced several Ger- man pictures. We hope in future numbers to continue to present some of the best foreign work to our readers as we believe it will both interest and profit them.
Our little friend, the Photo- Miniature, has taken on a new dress, and a handsome one. This up-to-date work has now completed its first year of useful existence, and we hope that its editors will never fail of subjects wherewith to produce new numbers ad infinitum.
The Florists' Exchange, of New York, a paper devoted to gardening interests, has asked us to state that they are willing to pay a fair price for suitable photographs of flowering and orna- mental trees and shrubs, made by readers of the Times. Send to them for particulars. They, also, have a monthly prize competition, which will be listed next month.
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Marshall, Mo., April 24, 1900. Hammer Dry Plate Co., St. Louis, Mo. Dear Sirs : We mail to you to-day, under separate cover, a photo of the Operating Room in the Western College of Photography. This negative was made on a Double Coated Hammer Aurora Plate nearly a year old. If you can find any halation, you can beat us, although the lens was looking well toward the clear glass light and the sun was shining outside. Yours truly,
(Signed) Hutch ings Bros.,
Western College of Photogp*aphy.
Kasson, Minn., April 24th, 1900. Hammer Dry Plate Co., St Louis, Mo. Gentlemen : I enclose a picture which 1 thought you might be interested in. It was made on one of your Extra Fast Plates, without the use of a Ray Filter. It was taken with a Poco Camera and their regular lens in the afternoon, about 2.30 o'clock. I used Stop No. 8, ex- posure yJu of a second. I think that the Hammer Plate, for all around work, is the best on the market. Yours truly, (Signed) A. N. Anderson.
Photographers' Association of America, Convention
of 1900*— When the average American photographer has received the thorough training that forms the l>asis of photography, he gradually becomes conscious that art itself is a very distinct matter, and that thus far he has only a wonderful and effective tool with which to work. What he wants to make with that tool is a picture.
Looking about him, among men of his own profession, he finds that their productions vary. Some have a me- chanical excellence as it seems to him, while others evidently possess more than that ; as a personal note is added to the merit of the produc- tions. When he finds that an ever increasing number like best the sec- ond kind, termed by them "Artistic." described as full of feeling, giving more of the person, more beautiful
This second kind of photography is found also, to result in reputation and higher prices. What people are paying for in portrait photography is the artistic truth, preferred to the literal and unfeeling fact.
Now to get that knowledge of ait, what it is, and how to make it his own, is the American's enigma. By seeing pictures we can learn to under- stand their nature, and their structure and, discovering their basic principle, w8 can build up an art ourselves.
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Notes and News
[July
But most American photographers see only reproduc- tions of pictures, these are misleading, as they translate the picture " out of relation." Therefore dependence upon the mass of reproductions, many bad. some good, has impeded the development of art in the large body of capable, aspiring American photographers.
The self teaching man, therefore, being at a disad- vantage, his only way toward a fundamental knowledge, lies in the opportunity to hear the elements of the black and white art to which photography belongs, discussed.
This opportunity presents itself at our coming conven- tion, in the lecture on the subject, *• What are the Prin- ciples of Beauty in Art?*' If every member will but carry away with him a clearer view of what really con- stitutes Art, and a simple idea to work during the com- ing year, he will have begun a true art life, a growth, and he will be prepared by his reflections, his practice, to receive the more complex lessons possible to be pres ented at a later time. Thus the convention becomes a school, in which the composition specialist leads and guides those whose attitude to art is receptive.
The second subject ** Does Lighting Ensure Art ?" will tend to dispel some erroneous ideas entertained upon the subject. This is necessary as much must be unlearned before Art itself can become a lucid perception. Until then we cannot hope to do more than imitate others, but as Art itself always implies * * creation " we must get knowledge to carry out ideas, the natural outcome of one's gprowth in Art perception.
Executive Committee, P. A. of A.
And if there is anything more than you want to know about, do not be afraid of asking too many questions.
I trust to have the pleasure of greeting you in Mil- waukee on July 23rd, and till then remain. Yours fraternally,
T. L. Stein.
To the Photographers of America.— This letter is addressed, individually, to every one of you, so please consider that it is especially addressed to YO U.
What are your plans regarding the next convention of the Photographers' Association of America ? I am hop- ing that you intend to be represented, not only in person but, also, by an exhibit. Whether the exhibit will be in competition, or complimentary, is for you to decide, but you and your work should certainly be in evidence in such a representative gathering as the next convention will be, and I sincerely trust that you will not disappoint us.
The work exhibited at that meeting will show the finest examples that the first workers in our art and the most effective and up-to-date methods can ensure. It is the most advantageous opportunity you could possibly hope for of examining the best work from the best modern sources, and of thoroughly *' posting " yourself in the latest methods.
If you are honestly desirous of " keeping up with the procession " you cannot afi!ord to neglect such an op- portunity. We want to make this convention as truly representative as possible. That means that we want YO U and we want an exhibit of your work ; one or the other, if we can't have both, but we would rather have both.
So, 1 trust to be favored by a prompt notice that you and your exhibit may both be counted on. Don't make up your mind that you will write in a day or two — write now. The sooner you decide; the sooner we will know what to expect and arrange for.
ALL ABOARD FOR MILWAUKEE.
A RATE of I ^3 fare, certificate plan, has been secured for the Convention. Be sure to ask agent for certificate when you buy your ticket. You pay full fare going, the cer- tificate, when signed by the special Raiload Agent who comes to the convention hall for that purpose, will en- title you to return ticket at y^ fare.
These certificates must be left with the Treasurer when you enter the Exposition building. A failure to bring certificate or the neglect to leave it with the Treasurer will prevent you from obtaining the reduction on return trip. All certificates must be in the Treasurer's hands on or before Wednesday the 25th of July.
The following from the office of the Western Passen- ger Association may be of help in purchasing tickets.
•* Under our rules certificates will be honored which show the purchase of going tickets not earlier than three days prior to the date announced as the opening date of the meeting, and during the first three days thereof, and if presented for return tickets not later than three days after the date announced as the closing date of the meeting (Sunday not to be accounted as a day in any case)."
No city in the country can entertain visitors better than Milwaukee. The Association has never had a President who has worked harder for the success of the meeting than has President Stein.
You may rest assured that your instruction, your en- tertainment, and your comfort have been well provided for. Come to Milwaukee and see the best Convention and the largest attendance the P. A. of A. has ever had. Below will be found a table of railroad rates from differ- ent sections of the country.
Geo. B. Sperry,
First Vice-President.
Excursion rates to Milwaukee and return by rail. These rates are based on the certificate plan of i ^ fare. Do not fail to ask for certificate when purchasing tickets:
Peoria, 111 |q 10
Indianapolis, Ind. . . 10 10
Toledo, Ohio 12 75
Toledo, Ohio,
by rail and boat. . 9 85
St. Paul. Minn 13 00
St. Louis, Mo 13 40
Detroit, Mich 13 75
Detroit, Mich,
by rail and boat . . 9 70
Louisville. Ky 14 10
Cincinnati, Ohio.. . 14 10 Des Moines, Iowa.. 14 80
Pittsburg, Pa 19 40
Toronto, Can 20 00
Kansas City, Mo. ,
via Chicago 19 50
Buffalo, N.Y 21 40
Topeka, Kan.,
via Chicago 22 15
Lincoln, Neb 22 60
Nashville, Tenn. ... 26 10 Washington, D. C. . 26 75 Little Rock, Ark.,
via Chicago 27 20
Philadelphia, Pa 27 75
New York, N. Y. . . 30 10
Boston, Mass 33 10
New Orleans, La. . . 34 10
Dallas, Texas 39 35
Denver, Col.,
z//Vi Chicago 43 15
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The Editor's Table.
335
Roanoke, Va., March i6, 1900. Mr. John Carbutt,
Wayne Junction, Philadelphia. Dear Sir : I am in receipt of your favor of the 14th inst. in which you desire to know how your paper is working in the hands of your customers. I am pleased to report that I have used in the past month or so, on negatives varying in density, over a gross of Carbon Matt Vinco with most gratifying and uniform results. The rapidity and certainty of results make it an ideal *• Busy Man's" paper. I was at Marion, Va., a week or two ago, and found a friend in trouble. He had made a lot of negatives in New Orleans, but had not the time to print them in daylight, so I suggested his using Vinco. I took him a sample of your paper, obtained here, and also a tube of your Metol-Hydro Powder, and I understood him to say he had, or would, order from you direct. You can rest assured that whenever I can speak a good word for "Carbutt's Vinco" and *' Metol-Hydro ** it. will afford me pleasure to do so, as the more I use your paper the better I like it.
Yours truly, J. N. B.
The IntematioiMl Photographic Congress.— The
Committee in charge of the International Photographic Congress which is to be held in Paris, has recently es- tablished the following program of the questions to be considered.
I. Photographic plates, classification and sensibility in various conditions of use. 2 Photometry; the practi- cal study of the subject as applied to photography.
3. Characteristics and classification of optical glass.
4. Lenses and diaphragms; systems of numbering. 5. Questions relating to photographic shutters. 6. Classi- fication of glass plates used in photography as to thick- ness. 7. Dimensions of cinemetograph bands. 8. Ex- pression of photographic formulee. 9, Projects for decimal classification in the bibliography of the sub- ject. 10. Legal protection. 11. Proprietary rights and licenses. 12. Questions relative to photographic docu- ments and archives.
If it is desired to communicate any documents or re- searches relating to these or like subjects, a r^sum^ should be addressed to the Secretary of the Committee before the 15th of June in order that it should be ad- mitted to the sessions of the Congress. The Secre- tary. M. S. Pector, may be addressed at 9 Rue Lincoln, Paris.
T/Ae eoiTOR's TABLe.
Bird Studies with a Camera, by Frank M. Chapman. This book is full of interest for photographers, and we shall refer to it fully in our next issue. $1.75. D. Ap- pleton & Co., New York.
The Photo-riinlature. No. 12 Retouching Negatives and Prints. 25c. The last number of the first year's issues has now come to hand and is a worthy successor of the previous booklets. The book is useful both to the professional and the amateur, and is well illustrated with reproduc- tions showing various stages of retouching. The spot- ingof prints is also carefully described. Tennant & Ward, New York.
Nature's Garden, by Neltze Blanchan, with illustra- tions by Henry Troth and A. R. Dugmore.
Bird Homes, by A. R. Dugmore.
Both these books are illustrated by reproductions, many in color, from photographs, and we shall refer to them fully in our next issue. Doubleday, Page & Co. New York.
Handbuch der Krlmlnalistischen Photographie, by
Friedrich Paul. This work relates to the use of photography in murder and other criminal cases, and is very explicit in its text and illustrations, which latter are naturally of a some- what gruesome nature. It is a work more for criminal lawyers than photographers. J. Guttentag, Berlin.
riounting and Framing Pictures, Edited by Paul N. Hasluck, with 240 illustrations. This little hand-book is a very practical demonstrator of the making of frames, and should be in every ama- teur's possession. The illustrations are good and the text clear and without technicalities. Cassell & Co., Ltd., New York.
Kiinstierische Landschafts-Photographie translated into German from the English of A. Horsley Hinton. This book appears in its second and enlarged edition, and is recommended to German photographers' as being entirely free from formulae, etc., and sticking to its title. Gustave Schmidt, Berlin.
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SEASCAPE.
By F. H. WORSLEY-BENISON.
Digitized by
-^^ Vol. XXXII.
POUR DOIXAJRS PER ANNUM.
o
AUGUST, 1900. rrv.nK'-"''^!'^"™'^''^-
lt^nm,K; LlBPvJjINOllE COPIES. 35 c
CENTS.
THE
PHOTOGRAPHIC
MES
Civ
1 1 -^, T^ :•
An-Illustrated '^onthly-/\agazine devoted-to-the-
interests«of« Artistic £f Scientific # Fhotography
*y;*)-
'^■4
THE*PHOTOGRAFHIC-TIAVES-PUBLISHING* ASSOCIATION*60*A?iD*62*EAST*ll™*ST.*NEW*yORK.
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CONTENTS
PAGS
Frontispiece — Bv F. H. Worsley-Benison opp. 337
Hand-Catnera Memoranda for Pictorial Purposes —
By H. McBean Johnstone 337
Fifth Avenue— By W. J. Mullins— Illustration 338
Study — By M. Demachy— Illustration ^339
The Arm, the Mouth, and the Nose in Portraiture^ —
By Frank M . Sutcliffe— Illustrated 340
*• Rusty " Visits the Exhibition— By R. G. Henry. . . 343
Misty Morning— By W. J. Mullins— Illustration 343
A Peaceful Haven— By J. Carpenter— Illustration. . 344 Porto Rican Mosaics, with Illustrations— By L. M.
McCormick 346
The Last Call— By L. L. Stein 347
Still Life Study— By Carl Rau— Illustration 348
Reducing and Intensifying— By Fayette J. Clute. . . 348
Portrait— By Taeschler Bros— Illustration \ . . . 350
Landscape — By Alfred Clements— Illustration 351
Study of a Child— By Mrs. Myra A. Wiggins— Illus- tration 352
A Stormy Night— By Max. Toch— Illustration 353
Twilight Exposures — By Max. Toch— Illustrated.. 353 ** Evening on the Ocean " — By Max. Toch— Illustra- tion 354
A Windy Sunset— By Max. Toch — Illustration 354
Kromskop Color Photography .... 354
An Enouiry into the Early History of Photography
—Illustrated, , 355
My Friend Thomas — By A. Holden— Illustration. . . 355 Study of Head— By A* C. Van Buren— Illustration . 356 Talbot*t Photographic Establishment at Reading—
Illustration 357
Talbot's Printing Establishment at Reading— Illus- tration. . . , , 358
Oriel Window at Lacock Abbey — Illustration 359
Early Camera Picture— By Fox Talbot— Illustrated 359
Very Early Print— By Fox Talbot— Illustration . . , 360 Photography of the Stage— By Dr. E. N. Heard—
Illustrated i, 360
Portrait Study— By G. Marissiaux— Illustration 361
An Outing in the Tennessee Mountains — By Mrs.
M. M. Davis — Illustrated 364
The "Meadow" Cabin— By Mrs. M. M. Davis- Illustration 365
The Grand Old •• Smoky*' Mountains— By Mrs. M.
M. Davis — Illustrations 365
The Herder's Family— By Mrs. M. M. Davis— Illus-
tration 365
Lantern Slide Making for Beginners— By •* Primrose
Hill".. 365
Twilight— By Wentworth Scott— Illustration 366
The Monk of San Juan— By W. J. Piatt— Illustra-
tion 368
Our Monthly Digest 369
Landscape— By J. G. Lutz — Illustration 371
•• A Story Without Words "—By M. L. Baker— Illus- trations 372, 373
Harvard Camera Club 375
Brooklyn Camera Club 375
Editorial Notes •. ....376
The Convention — By Ward Muir 377
Notes and News • 378
Study of a Child— By Mrs. Claud Gratch— Illustration 379 Thrashing Wheat, Le Puy— By G. E. Thompson- Illustration 380
The Editor's Table 381
Young Pelican — Illustration 38a
Gannet on Nest— Illustration 38a
Kittiwakes and Young— Illustration 383
Photographic Times Record 384
NOT A SUGGESTION . • .
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ARE THUS ABSOLUTELY INDEPENDENT
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THE SCOVILL & ADAMS CO. OF NEW YORK,
60 & 62 East Eleventh Street, New York.
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Vol. XXXII.
AUGUST, 1900
HAND-CAMERA MEMORANDA FOR PICTORIAL PURPOSES.
BY H. MC BEAN JOHNSTONE.
HERE is a certain class of photog- raphers com- posed principally of amateurs, who, when winter comes, carefully store their appar- atus in the far- thermost comer of the garret, and until the advent of the spring have nothing to do with photog- raphy other than to make an occa- sional print, or as is more likely with this class, take it to the local professional and have it done.
With the beginning of May comes a resurrec- tion. Cameras and tripods are hauled out of their be-cobwebbed hiding places and the dust- ing brush given a fair show, and with the first warm sunny day, the amateur is off— striding along the country lanes and through the bush, looking for the pretty rural spots that bethinks will work up into good pictures. Of all the joys vouchsafed to undeserving man, the most de- lightful are good health, good legs, and a good camera, and the individual in whom are com- bined all three, can consider himself on a level
H. Latimer.
with the gods. He who is so blest may tread the whole world jauntily, snapping up the pretty bits along the roadside, and securing grand and striking effects among the hills, and generally appreciate all the careless freedom of the unwashed vagabond without being tainted with his unwholesome odor of loafing lawless- ness, for who ever heard tell of a man with a camera, however, disreputable an appearance he may present, being suspected of evil inten- tions? The camera in the country, like knee breeches and a bundle of golf sticks, encnrcles the head of its owner with a halo of chaste re- spectability.
Perhaps (it is just possible) there are amateurs who do not know the glorious freedom that there is to be found in a walk cross country, uphill and downdale; do not know of the inspiration that is to be sucked in with every breath of the fresh spring air, nor have never seen the great wild beauty of the coming thunderstorm, as the huge rolling masses of black vapor belly out, one after the other, and call forth a fear that they will come down and smother us all in a gi'eat lake of rain. To such let it be said, " Get up and get out. Open your eyes and your camera and see what new beauties there are. awaiting you outside the corporation limits." This is exactly what needs to be said to hun- dreds of amateurs.
There is no doubt whatever that the camera is a useful and beneficial companion to, not only the pictorial photographer but also to those who
Copyright, igoo, by The Scovill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y. Post Office.
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Hand-Camera Memoranda
[August
lack the ability to sketch, and consequently have no other means of memoranda in picture- making. Undoubtedly there are particular dis- tricts that are most suitable for certain classes of subjects, but every locality abounds with ample material for the artistic photographer, from the great wild beauty of Niagara Falls to the humblest pastoral scene on the farm, or in the backwoods, for it has been truly said that all nature is art, if properly filtered through the fingers and brain of the artist. No matter how full of beauties a subject may be, it is best that the operator should make himself thoroughly acquainted with its possibilities, and for this purpose a hand-camera will be found very use- ful. In prospecting for suitable material we frequently come upon a view, which, if treated at a different time or season, would yield ad- mirable results, whereas if the exposure were made at the present, we would secure nothing but a badly lighted photograph, without that aspect of breadth, which old Sol in his proper position would have given us. Here the hand- camera gives us the power to make notes of these subjects, so that by careful after-study we may plan out our picture and then come back for a second and probably more successful attack that, by its results, will amply repay us for any trouble we have gone to in our search for the very best.
In the course of these prospecting rambles, we frequently run across fleeting subjects, that the hand-camera alone is quick enough to throw into position and secure, and when we consider
riPTM AVCNUC. N. Y.
how frequently this occurs, there surely can be no possible excuse for the instrument lying idle any part of the year. Spring, summer, autumn, or winter, all afford us equal facilities for differ- ent kinds of pictorial photography. Emerson says, *^ To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauties, and in the field it be- holds every hour, a picture that was never seen before and never shall be seen again."
But to particularize; we are in the heart of the deep cool forest, alone with Mother Nature, and at public liberty to follow the winding grass- grown paths, or to sit on the grassy banks of a trickling stream, and either listen to the twitter- ing of the birds or moralize on the cussedness of things in general and bad negatives in partic- ular. But we are idling. To moralize is not to make negatives, so we tramp on and select out several foregrounds or portions of pictures for future operations, and on the plan of Mr. Cuttle, that well known character of Dickens', " When found, make a note of " by means of our hand- camera. Perhaps as the day is closing in, and the sun sinking behind multi-colored clouds, as we are trying to decide on the pictorial merits of a piece of bush, the brassy clink of a cow- bell catches the ear, and a few minutes later snap goes the shutter on a little dirty faced urchin driving home the cows ; or possibly it is the weary plough-boy astride of one nag, and the other alongside, thus making a picture that would answer well above that familiar line of Gray's ** Homeward the ploughman plods his weary way."
In the pursuit of land- scape photography, an im- portant element of success is the attainment of the power of selection, and those who are naturally gifted with sufficient in- nate good taste to at once perceive those combina- tions that will make the most agreeable, and at the same time the most effec- tive pictures may well consider themselves in luck. With them study and close application to the'laws of good composi- tion is not the matter of necessity that it becomes with those less favorably «'. y. Muiiint, endowed. But even these
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Hand-Camera Memoranda
339
R. Demachy.
will do well to bear in mind that far too often forgotten fact that in landscape photography we are not looking for a mere record of facts, but want the very best pictorial arrangement of light and shade and terrestrial mass that it is possible to obtain — even though to get this, it be necessary to sacrifice every fact in the composition. Every day we are bored by being shown views that possess nothing to recommend them, and can be of no account whatever, unless it be that they represent spots possessing as- sociations that interest the artist and even so in nine out of ten instances, more picturesque selections could be made that would still give a faithful delineation of the spot.
When our jaunts cross-country are made with
the object of producing a masterpiece or putting in form some long-thought-out idea, which we hope to see, from its possessing certain intrinsic qualities, rank on a level with the works of fancy and imagination of great painters, the value of this pictorial memoranda made with the little hand-camera is at once intensified all out of pro- portion to the respect which has hitherto been paid to it, and our task of discriminating be- tween the beautiful and commonplace is simpli- fied by half. We are not under the necessity of placing the instrument in position at every ap- parently pretty spot we come to but merely have to pull out of notebook of this particular part of country, and at once we can gauge the pos- sibilities of the view before us, and at the same
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340
The Arm, the Mouth, and the Nose in Portraiture
[August
time gather more correct ideas as to the proper light and shade.
Then our camera comes into play and by the aid of previous experience in the same spot with the hand instrument, we are easily able to pick a standpoint from whence nature will spread before us all her unfettered beauties — small and scrubby bushes or great giants of the wood that rank as kings among their brethren; or perhaps it is the still glassy surface of a pool in which are reflected the overhanging branches, until the surface is broken by a slight wind that gives old Sol a chance to cast across it a silvery sheen composed of innumerable sparkling dia- mond points. How fortunate we are if we can secure the broad effect that is produced by the foreground in deep shade and a great sheet of bright sunlight cast across the distance, with perhaps the monotony of the horizon broken by the top of a mountain or a large hill. In our foreground (which after all is the principal part of the landscape), we are able to judge the best
effect by means of our previous snap shots, and can decide whether we want rocks, stumps, old logs, or bare earth or wind-bound reeds to save it from the too frequently met with aspect of utter dullness. And yet not what really is the picturesque desolation, for to secure this, not all the rules of composition can guide us, if we lack that artistic temperament that is possessed by all great artists, both photographic and otherwise.
The earnest photographic student of Nature, whether, at her best or at her worst, and no matter which of her constantly varying aspects he may be enamoured with, will find that in securing it with all its proper effect on a pho- tographic plate, the use of the hand-camera, in the same light as the painter handles his sketch- book, will result not only in a very perceptible improvement in his work,, but also in a sav- ing of plates, a fact that in view of the price of the large sizes is well worthy of consider- ation.
THE ARM, THE MOUTH, AND THE NOSE IN PORTRAITURE*
BY FRANK M. SU TCMFFE.
HOWEVER much the photographer may wish that all his sitters would come to be photographed in sleeve- less dresses, he has to make the best of the usually ugly coverings with which ladies hide their arms. As the slightest movement of any part of the body either adds to or takes away from the graceful- ness of a portrait, the more the body is covered with clothing, the less opportunity there is for the photographer to make his portraits ex- pressive. As I mentioned in speaking of hands in a previous article, much life can be given to a portrait by a movement of the wrist but it is difficult to make use of the wrist as a means of expressing anything when the sleeve is so long that it hides all the wrist and partly the hand. The very long sleeves have the effect of making the arm unnaturally long — so long, indeed, that Darwin's theory of the descent of man does not appear so absurd after all. Truly the designer of "Fashion" makes woman take the shapes of all the beasts of the field in turn.
•Copyrijjhl i9c»» in the United States by The Photographic Times
Publishing Association.) Previous Articles of this Scries: **The Feet," March, 19C0; **The
Neck," July. 1900.
As sleeves are always changing, any sugges- tions on dealing with the sleeve of to-day would be useless to-morrow. Let us therefore confine our remarks to the arm.
A well -developed arm looks well in any posi- tion. The lines from the shoulder to the hand are full of beauty; so beautiful, indeed, are they, that no one who has not drawn or painted them, has any idea of their wonderful beauty of line.
Even when the lower arm is thin, it is possi- ble to make it look well by bending the hand towards the shoulder. The outlines of the lower arm then form two curved lines of unsur- passed loveliness (Fig. i). Some rational ex- cuse must be found for bending the arm, otherwise the position appears affected. A fan in the hand of a lady offers many excuses for moving the arm and wrist.
The arms will appear of unequal length if care is not taken to use a lens of fairly great focal length. Even when this precaution is taken, the arm furthest from the camera will appear too small if the forearm is foreshortened too much. In the example given of this, the sitter's elbows are not pointed; I could not find a sharp- elbowed model willing to sit for her angulari- ties (Fig. 2).
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The Arm, the Moutht and the Nose in Portraiture
341
FIG. I.
If the elbows are inclined to be pointed, care must be taken not to let the angle of the junc- tion of the forearm and the part above the elbow be too acute, or the sharpness of the elbow will be all the more apparent. This angularity can sometimes be got rid of in trimming the print, or in placing the figure on the ground glass, by cutting it off altogether (Fig. 3)
The arms will also appear to be deformed if the humerus or up- per arm is too much hidden in the sleeve or awkwardly posed. The example I give is carefully copied from a Parisian photograph reproduced in a dressmaker's journal (Fig. 4). The left arm of the model appears to be shrunken, because it is hidden behind the shoulder. No one but a photographer would have placed a sitter in such a position.
In some parts I understand that photog- raphers have great trouble with their sit- ters' mouths, which are, as foreigners caricature them, all teeth — so full of teeth that the mouth does not close naturally. Then there is a little contest between the photographer and the sitter : the pho- tographer wishing to take the mouth natur- ally, open, at least with the lips parted, while the sitter has made up her mind that she will have it closed at all hazards. This means that her chin will be full of lines which do not otherwise appear there. Even people with beautiful teeth some- times think it positively indelicate to allow them to be seen the least little bit in a por- trait.
There are many ways of improving the shape of an awkward mouth. As a rule, a profile or three-quarter view is better than a front one; it depends on whether the upper or the lower lip is the larger, whether the mouth looks better raised or depressed. If the lower lips project,
FIG. 3.
top light should not be used, or the lip will stick out promi- nently. It is often easy to spot a paint- ing which has been made from a photo- graph by noticing the way the lower lip appears to project, for it seems almost impossible to get the proper color value of the lower lip in a studio portrait. No
doubt this is owing to the large amount of blue which is to be found in the lips. The mouth in photographic portraits generally appears much wider and less pleasing than it should do ; it appears unnaturally long and thin, because the lower lip appears colorless and whiter than in nature. Ladies who are often photographed have found a cure for this, but as this cure is applied in the dressing-room, where the pho- tographer never enters, he is in the dark as to the nature of the cure. The fact remains that some lips photograph correctly.
Mouths often appear to droop at the comers in a photographic portrait from two reasons — the nervousness of the sitter, and too much top light. These drooping lines are left to the re- toucher for removal, and with them goes what little expression there may have been originally. Worse, however, than drooping lines is a false smile which twists up the comers of the mouth. When a sitter who feels anything but pleasant is asked to *' look pleasant " these absurd up- ward lines appear. A real smile can always be distinguished from a sham one by the eyes. In
a real smile, the first muscles moved are those surrounding the eye, then the muscles of the mouth are affected, and so on, whereas in an attempt to put on a smile the eyes are not affected at all. Then in an attempt at smiling, the sitter knows that the mouth is under observation, while in ordinary in- tercourse one person FIG. 4. never looks at the
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The Arm, the Mouth, and the Nose in Portraiture
[Aur.usT
mouth, or nose, or ears of the other, but only into his eyes. For this reason, if the whole of the face except the eyes could be thrown slightly out of focus or made less de- finite, our portraits would be more life-like. Thej-e is a portrait of Rogers by Sir Thos. Law- rence in his " Poems," where the eyes are the only definite part of the picture, which photog- raphers might study with advantage. Although this portrait is what might be called a vignette, yet it is not this vignetting I wish to call atten- tion to, but the emphasis given to the eyes and eyebrows above.
Among our sitters are many whose eyes are not set straight. Some have their eyes turning inwards, some turning outwards. Generally odd -eyed people are taken in profile, but if a full or three-quarter face portrait is thought to be more pleasing, the unevenness of the eyes can be made unnoticeable by throwing one side of the face into deep shadow. Care should be taken in photographing people with artificial eyes to keep the glass member in the shade, otherwise the portrait will have an unpleasant stare.
Some people with prominent eyes will appear to stare if they are asked to look at anything much higher than the floor. Conversely, some
people with long eyelids will appear half asleep if they do not look well up towards the roof of the studio. Some people have eyes of unequal size; as a rule, it is better to let the larger one be near the light, and the small one in the shade. A few years ago we often heard blue-eyed people say their eyes did not take well ; this was the fault of the photographer for using too much light. If our sitter's eyes appear too small it is a sign that too much light is being used in front.
In a photographic portrait the nose plays an important part ; for, unlike the eyes and mouth, no matter how nervous the sitter may be, or how incompetent the photographer, the nose is not affected by outside influences. It has no muscles to alter its shape ; only when this member is unusually large or unusually small need the photographer give it much considera- tion. When tjie nose is small the photog- rapher can make it appear larger — though xuhy he should do so I cannot say— by using a strong side light. Conversely, a very big nose can be made less prominent by using a flat front out-of-door light. Hook noses, or those with curved ends like " Mark Twain's, are better raised. Few people have noses which " can be followed " in a straight line ; they turn either to the right hand or to the left; it all depends on which pocket the pocket handkerchief is carried. Generally speaking, the side from which the nose turns is the better one to take.
To take my own nose, for example: it bears away to the right; if looked 'eXfrom the right when my nose is " front face " my face is in " three-quarter view," and when my nose is in ** three-quarter view " my face is in profile, and when my nose is in profile my face has almo.st disappeared, and the back of my head is to be seen. But looked at from the left side my nose is far more imposing in appearance. I beg the reader will pardon these personal remarks.
TO PREVENT HALO:
Castile Soap \i ounce
Alcohol, 95 per cent lo ounces
After dissolving for one week, filter, and add:
Aurine 50 grains
Ery throsine 50 jfrains
Paint back of plate and allow it to dry. Be- fore developing wipe off with a wet rag.
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Rusty " VisUs the Exhibition
343
"RUSTY" VISITS THE EXHIBITION.
BY R. G. HENRY.
NEVER met ** Rusty," eh? Well, you are unfortunate. " Rusty " is our new office boy who formerly worked for a short time as an apprentice in Greggs' up-town gallery. How he got his nickname is certainly a mystery, for he was never known to be quiet long enough to start corrosion, and his general brightness disproves the fitness of the name. However, we will not blame ** Rusty " for the adoption of such a suggestive handle, for it was most likely, like some people's fame, thrust upon him; and besides, a boy must not be de- spised for merely haWng a nickname, for what man ever became truly great who wasn't am- bitious enough in his youthful days to earn some familiar cognomen other than the one bestowed upon him at the christening? Well, ** Rusty " hafe been with us now for about a month, and he shows that after his half year's experience as a helper in a pro- fessional studio he has picked up considerable knowledge, and has developed — there, that was unintentional — quite a liking for anything pertaining to mat- ters photographic. He has lots of confidence, " Rusty " has, and he is also very obliging by nature, so I wasn't very much surprised the other day when he kindly offered to take charge of the editorial department for me next summer during my vacation time.
In order to help the boy along and encourage him I gave him an afternoon half-holiday one day last week to visit the ex- hibition and study the pictures, thinking that possibly he might brush up against something in the way of experience that might do him good, for I believe there is a future for that boy. and I don't want to be respon- sible for holding it back. The next morning " Rusty " was at the office bright and early, and finding my ink-well cleaned and filled, and evidences of a more ^,,^y morhino.
thorough dusting than usual, told me that my generosity had been appreciated. In reply to my question as to how he liked the exhibition, " Rusty " said :
" Say, she's hot stuff, ain't she ? But it wasn't anything like I thought it would be. Not many good pictures there like I used to burnish up at Greggs'. A lot of fellows were goin' daft over some pictures by an English fellow with a kind of an automobile name — A Horseless Winton, or something like that, but I didn't think they were so much. A dude with an eye-glass and several ladies were ravin' over a set of pictures that the dude was the author of. They was all out of focus, and it would make you dizzy to look at them for a minute, and they looked as if they had been taken through a telegraph pole insulator or the bottom of a beer bottle. Somebody ought to buy that duck a good cam- era with one of them anti-stigma lenses, like yours. There was another fellow there that
IV. J. MuUins.
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had evidently got "turned down" by the jury, for he just rippin* up everybody and all the pictures, and sayin' that they didn't any of them begin to compare with his own. I heard him tellin* another fellow that after this he wasn't goin* to throw any of his spoiled negatives in the ash barrel, but was goin* to keep them to print pictures from for the exhibitions, because he said the spoiled negatives of one year would produce the prize winners of the next year's show."
Here " Rusty " was called away by the ring- ing of the telephone, but he returned immedi- ately and continued :
" But say, what silly titles they give some of the pictures, and how badly they fit. One fel- low had a picture of a sickly looking girl holdin' something in her hand and looking sad, which he called * Woman with a Vase.' I heard a couple of girls talkin' about it, and they called it a * voz,' but it was vase in my catalogue all right. 'Woman with a Grouch,* *Man with a Jag,* or * Child with the Measles,* would be more appropriate for some of them than the titles that were printed in the catalogue. And say, some of them landscapes looked as if they had been printed from the wrong side of the negative. One pointed bearded artist fellow
was snickerin' at a fright that was labelled * The Weary Day is Drawing to a Close.* And it was certainly the weariest looking day I ever saw closing. Before I ever went to work for Griggs I'll bet I could have made a picture like that with my shoe brush and some of Bixby's three B*s blackin*. That fellow's business may take him out at the hour when a landscape might look like that to him, but I would have to be comin' home about three o'clock on a rainy morning with a good comfortable jag on board to see nature look like that chromo. There was another freak there that was so bad that the fellow who took it couldn't look it in the face and name it, so he just called it * A Study.' After * studying' it for about a half an hour tryin' to make out what it was I had to give it up, but I think it was either a gipsy girl or a picture of General Shaf ter, although it did look like a picture of Columbus that used to be in the Second Reader when I went to school down
Just at this point a man called in to pay his subscription, and while he was out hunting up the Business Manager, I couldn't help but think that, in his way, " Rusty " was doubtless some- thing of a genuine philosopher, as well as a clever, faithful office boy.
IN THE DARK-ROOM*
BY C. Z WILliUR.
'Neath the orange- tin ted glow Spectral figures come and go On artistic aims intent; That the image. Heaven-sent, May ** develop," and so stay. Relic of a perfect day.
Fragile films, translucent-clear ^As the ghost-like shades appear. Now a form, and now a face, Picture, this, of perfect grace. Is your memory keener, then. Than the time-worn thoughts of men?
Yes ! And No ! Within my heart. Firmer than by chemic art Lives 2i picture. Ah! her face Ne'er shall leave its dwelling-place; Love's " developer " hath here ** Fixed " the image of my dear.
CJh my heart-film, see! It glows! Colors fairer than the rose; Brighter than dull words can paint; How they glow and palpitate! Time, with many and many a day. Cannot wash one tint away!
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Porto Rican Mosaics
[August
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L. M. McCormick.
PORTO RICAN MOSAICS.
SO much has been said about Porto Rico " our new possession " politically and \ otherwise, that I hope it may be per- F mitted to photography to record also its impressions. City life in Porto Rico is very much the same as in other tropical climates, so that my camera was pointed mainly at rural life. The amateur who goes to Porto Rico with the idea that he is going to meet with imposing scenery, will be rather disappointed, for nature there is so open and generous that it yields readily to the gaze all around. It does not keep anything in reserve. It is not unlike its inhabitants, ready to thrust itself upon you, as they did in the arms of the Americans. While there are no high mountains, los- ing themselves in the sky, the highlands are dotted with soft undulating hills and pretty val- leys, which give to the landscape a most artistic and pleasing effect. The scenery in the main does not awaken a sense of awe, but rather intoxicates you with desire.
The simple way in which the peasants live in thatched roof
L. M. McCormick,
houses, offers a good subject for composition, although everything is so bright and sunny, that the lack of atmospheric effect renders it difficult to compose a picture except late in the afternoon, and then you may be left en- tirely in the dark with your camera, while selecting your subject, owing to the very short twilight. Nature in Porto Rico is indeed mild, for even its forests have never housed the least offensive beast. No wonder that the inhabitants are so peaceable and law abiding.
The type of women in Porto Rico is rather interesting in its diversity. The immediate de- scendants of a Spaniard, with their clear cut features, and who dress yet in the plain old style of their ancestors; the immediate descendant of English and German — of which there are many
i- ^^
L. M. McCormick.
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L. M. McCormick.
and will, it is already assured, be the most important and the most interesting meeting we have ever held Now, what are you going to do ? We want you to meet, and be met by, the best and most representative men in our profession. We want you to see their latest and best work, and to let them see yours. We are aiming to broaden the hori- zon of every one of us by con- tact with the best wits, the cleverest ideas, and the newest methods that the most up-to- date developments of the Pho- tographic Art can offer. Are you with us ?
— who adopt the latest style of Parisian fashion, and the olive complexion and soft black eyed seiioritas, which latter is a cross breed between the aboriginal Indian and the early Spaniard. That type is the most interesting. The soft and childlike expression of these would make good subjects for Madonnas.
THE LAST CALL.
I want this last call to rouse every photographer in this country. I want every one of you to realize the impor- tance to you of being in evidence at the coming convention. That conven- tion meets in Milwaukee on July 23d,
L. At. McCormick.
I am hoping that you will not only siend an exhibit but be here yourself. We have a splendid building for exhibi- tion purposes, a lovely city, and a firm intention of giving you the best time, both socially and professionally, that you ever had in your life.
Yours fraternally,
L. L. Stein, President P, A. of A.
L. M. McCormick.
FLASH UGHT POWDER:
Magnesium aad aluminum . . 10 parts
Potassium chlorate 5 parts
Potassium permanganate ... i part
Powder separately and then mix for
use without pressure. This produces a
minimum amount of smoke.
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Reducing and Intensifying
[August
•TILL Lirf COMPCTITION."
Bronze Medal,
Carl Ran.
REDUCING AND INTENSIFYING.
BY FAYETTE J. CLUTE.
TO cover the field and review the good and bad qualities of all the various methods of reducing and intensify- ing our negatives would require much more space than I have at my disposal. For this reason I will confine myself to a few of the most useful formulae, attempting at the same time to give a few points most gen- erally overlooked by writers on the subject.
Previous to the introduction of persulphate of ammonia there was little reason for one to go further than the well known Farmer's reducer when it was desired to remove a part of the silver forming the image in our too dense nega- tive. The formulae for this solution can be found in any of the annuals or handbooks, but as the exact proportions seem to be immaterial a more convenient method of preparing it may be adopted, particularly as it overcomes the necessity of keeping the ferricyanide solution from deterioration due to the action of light. Take one or two ferricyanide of potassium (red prussiate of potash) crystals in the hand, rinse
off the yellow powder that adheres to them, under the tap and place in a graduate contain- ing water. They will rapidly color the water a bright yellow. In another graduate place aone- in-eight solution of hyposulphite of soda, and to it add enough of the first solution to color it a pale straw color. With a saturated solution of hypo at hand this reducer can be prepared in a few moments by adding three parts of water to each part of the saturated solution, and then adding the ferricyanide solution until the desired strength is obtained as indicated by the depth of color. Too strong a solution may result in stains and also cause too rapid action and loss of control. The negative should be watched closely and removed to running water before the desired amount of reduction has taken place. It is easy to continue the operation if desired but detail allowed to disappear cannot be recovered. The negative should be thoroughly and uni- formly wetted before being placed in the solu- tion to prevent uneven action.
Lumifere Bros, described recently, in a paper
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read before the French Photographic Society, the results obtained in experimenting with the sub-salt eerie sulphate. With it they claim there is no tendency to cause stain, no danger of the solution deteriorating if kept for some length of time, and the silver is removed from the film in soluble form, thus avoiding any danger of future staining due to the discoloration of the unre- moved silver compound left in the film by the Farmer's solution. Its selective action upon the high lights can be regulated to some extent by the strength of the solution employed, but its tendency is towards the more rapid reduction of that part of the image lying in the upper, strata of the film, ncmely, the more delicate de tail and surface veiling. Like Farmer's solution its action is antithesis of that of persulphate of ammonia which is unique in this that it seems to attack the dense high lights much more rapidly than it does the light detail in our negative.
Before leaving our Farmer's solution let me caution you that in attempting to employ it to remove any slight veiling or fog in your nega- tive you should be first quite sure that such veil or fog is on the upper side of the film. Fog or veiling of the image, caused by holding the glass side of the negative too close to the lamp for too long a period during development will result in a veiling next to the glass which noth- ing seems capable of removing.
Learn to always turn the film side to the lamp when examining the plate. It is much less sensitive than the glass side after being once placed in the developer.
Ammonium persulphate should be purchased of a reliable dealer ; one handling Messrs. Merck & Co.'s chemicals can always supply the proper article, which should be the neutral salt and not the alkaline sulphate sometimes sold as persulphate. It is somewhat deliquescent and unstable in solution. Too strong a solution will attack the film. A three per cent, solution is about right, although a slightly stronger solu- tion njay be employed if found too slow. The reducing, action will not cease even on placing the negative under the tap, but a ten per cent, solution of sulphate of soda will quickly check its action. If the original fixing of the negative was not thoroughly done, the placing of the negative in a fresh fixing bath will prevent the future discoloration of such remaining silver bromide. A thorough washing completes the operation. There is another reducer of ten em- ployed, credited to Belitzki, formula for which is also found in all the annuals. Its advantage
over Farmer's intensifier, to which its action is similar, lies in the fact that it can be used after fixing in a acid fixing bath with little or no washing between, where Farmer's reducer would give yellow stains did a trace of acid remain in the film. As the thorough softening of the film is imperative before the application of any re- ducer or intensifier to insure uniform action, and as it becomes necessary to employ a weak acid bath in the case of old or hardened nega- tives where water alone refuses to penetrate thoroughly, this reducer is perhaps more desira- ble where time can not well be spared for thorough washing after the use of an acid. This reducer and the uranium intensifier are, we be- lieve, the only two exceptions to the rule de- manding the entire removal of any acid in the film before reducing or intensifying.
Reducers that employ cyanide of potassium followed by hypo, besides lacking permanency in their results, are not to be recommended, as the amount of reduction is not known until the hypo has been allowed to act. There is for this reason danger of destroying more of the image than is desired.
Intensifiers are all accused of lacking per- manency in the results produced, and in some cases there are good grounds for the complaint. Mercuric chloride, followed by the ammonia sulphite of soda, or a regular developer, have received the most condemnation, perhaps, yet if the process is rightly carried out the negative treated should be as permanent as any other.
Starting with the bleaching process, most writers advise the more or less complete action of this bath according to the amount of inten- sification desired. Here is where the first mis- take is made, as the mercuric chloride changes the silver bromide into the double combination of calomel, mercuric chloride, and silver chloride which are in turn converted into ammonium chloride, silver, and mercuric sulphide, or other metalic salts according to the blackening solu- tion employed, it seems plain that we should bleach the image right through to the glass in order that every particle of silver shall be altered in the same manner, to avoid unstable chemical combinations which would result from darkening a partially bleached image. The bleaching thoroughly done, washing should also be thorough, an hour in running water being none too long.
In choosing our darkening agent we must take either such a one as will give us the exact amount of intensity desired or one that will
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Reducing and Intensifying
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permit of a repetition of the process with added intensity. Sulphite of soda does not permit of this latter as the image becomes thinner with each repetition, but as the resultant image is formed of pure metal, it can be said to be per- haps the best where only slight increase of density is desired. Following our bleaching and washing with a solution of ammonia or ammonium sulphide gives greater density, but as the resultant image is composed of mercurous ammonium chloride, ammonium chloride, or
mercuric sulphide, mercury, and a form of silver sulphide of doubtful permanence, it is not to be recommended. Too strong a solution or the continued action of the ammonium solution will result in part of the intensification first produced being removed. For flat negatives this iu- tensifier is all that can be desired if one wishes to risk its lack of permanency, as it tends to increase contrasts. A twenty grain to the ounce solution of Schlippe's salts gives the same results and is less open to the objection of lack of per- manency. Following the application of the ammonia with a solution of metol or hydro- quinone would perhaps turn a greater portion of the sulphides of mercury 'and silver into pure metal and render them less liable to change. In using either of these, or even ortol which an- swers admirably, the sodium sulphite should be omitted.
Following our bleaching with hydroquinone, metol, ortol, etc., answers very well as far as
the silver chloride is concerned, but they have little effect upon the mercuric deposit, and part or all of it is washed away, particularly in the shadows This might be an advantage if under control, but it is not. Bleaching, followed by ferrous oxalate, has the desired quality of per- mitting of repeated application with added in- tensity. Each atom of silver is reinforced by another of pure metal, and the process can be repeated as often as is found neeessary. The bichloride of mercury should be a satur- ated solution, slightly acidified with a few drops of hydrochloric acid, the addition of which tends to prevents stains, but too much will be inclined to cause frilling. Be- fore applying it to the negative care should be taken to see that no silver stains or unreduced silver salts remain in the film. If the negative is flat or fogged it should receive first a treatment with a reducer to clear up the shadows. If the film is inclined to be at all delicate through forced develop- ment or other cause a preliminary bath of chrome alum, to which a few drops to the ounce of hydro- chloric acid have been added.
Washing after bleaching should be most thoroughly done, as any uncombined mercury will be dark- ened as well as that which has combined with the silver. If too hard water is used a precipitation of mercuric salts in the film will result, which may subsequently lead to stains or fog.
The ferrous oxalate solution is prepared by pouring one ounce of a saturated solution of ferrous sulphite into six ounces of a saturated solution of potassium oxalate. This should be made slightly acid by adding oxalic acid until blue litmus paper turns slowly red Three or four ounces of water may be added, but if the solution is too much diluted or too acid the image will be more of a gray color in its high lights that extend through to the glass, and for that reason the strong solution should be used where the contrast is to be maintained.
Eider's lead intensifier is perhaps the best for line subjects if fog can be avoided. Uran- ium intensifiers are good but entirely too prone to give a red deposit over the entire film. An addition of acetic acid tends to keep the
Taeschler Brox.
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Reducing and Intensifying
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Mrs. Myra A. Wigg[int.
Entered in ''Study of a Child'' Competition.
shadows clear. The first few wash waters should also be slightly acidified. Any hypo remaining in the film will cause dark brown stains, but, as before mentioned, acid will do no harm. Washing in hard water will result in slight reduction if not in stains and streaks.
Copper sulphate and bromide of potassium followed by silver nitrate gives an image far from permanent. An additional treatment with an alkaline developer improves it in this respect.
Willis & Clement's platinum intensifier gives
good results and the negatives so treated have been found quite permanent. Perhaps the best intensifier that has been given us since the advent of the dry plate is the new Agfa solu- tion. This is a double salt of sulphocyanide of mercury. A clear, colorless liquid to be diluted before use with nine times its bulk of water. Our own experience has shown that a still far- ther dilution is advisable in the case of ortho- chromatic plates. Its advantage over ordinary methods of mercuric intensification lies in its simplicity and the greater control permitted than when separate bleaching and blackening
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Twilight Exposures
353
operations are demanded before the completion of the process.
The same care should be observed as to silver stains, unreduced silver bromide or hypo remaining in the film. As in the case of ordi- nary mercuric bleaching insufficient fixing will result in stains that cannot be removed.
The presence of acid in the film we have been unable to blame for any stains but the use of too hard water to complete the washing will cer- tainly cause a precipitation in the film of some complicated form of mercuric silver cyanide or other mercuric salt that can hardly prove other than deliquescent.
It was my intention to enlarge more fully upon the power to secure satisfactory results from widely differing types of negatives by employing the different formulae I have noticed ; with an appreciation of their differ- ent characteristics, but this will have to be deferred until another time. Local reduction and intensification are also a power in our hands, and the removal of fog and stains is another subject closely allied to the one under consideration, hence I may almost say, with our editor's approval, ** continued in our next.'*
A STORMY NiaHT.
Maximiiian Toch.
TWILIGHT EXPOSURES.
BY MAXIMILIAN TOCH.
IF you keep on photographing you will is no rule to tell you whether you should
eventually have a sense of art greater expose one second or five minutes, you will
than you ever had. Art like everything probably obtain a negative that looks perfectly
else is a matter of comparison, and com- fit for the refuse pail. My advise, however, is,
parison is a matter of taste. The prime make a print and mask the high-light a trifle,
minister to the court of the Queen Isabella of and if you get a good strong bromide print of
Spain fell in love with a cross-eyed, hump- any sort of developing paper, preferably the
backed woman, and he married her, and some rough, you will have a picture worth showing,
one asked him how he came to regard her so Platinum prints present remarkably fine effects
highly, and he said that such a shape and visage and sepia prints show off sunsets or stormy
were his ideals of beauty, on which some wag evening pictures with striking force,
has commented, "Non est disputandum dis- A picture representing a stormy evening with
gustibus." the winds blowing the trees needs no weak or
Photographs of sunset or twilight were watery developer to bring out results. In fact,
tabooed some years ago, and when a few pho- you want a strong metol and hydrochinon
tographers were persistent enough to display developer, and as you are after black and white
them and get prizes for them the fad had a dis- effects, and you have not any too much on your
tinctive following, and to this day they are of plate, it is wise to use the following formula :
the elect few, for it is by no means a simple Metol.... 30 grains
matter to get a natural looking picture from a Pur^dry'sul^^^^^ of soda. W'.W ^\\ ounc'Ls
twilight exposure. Vmx^ dry carbonate of soda. ... \\ ounces
. -^ . ,. . 1. , . 1 , Bromide of potassium 5 grains
After makmg a twihght exposure and there Water 16 ounces
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Kromskop Color Photography
I August
CVCNINQ ON THE OCEAN— WESTWARD HOI
This developer works well with nearly all plates, and I have found the Lovell and the Hammer extra rapid plates to work clear for fifteen minutes. If you find that your picture is too hard it is only necessary to lay it in a dish of water directly from the developer and the high-lights will remain stationary and the shadows and half-tones will develop.
The field presented in such views, as a cloudy sunset at the sea-shore, or a sunset over a country village showing a sky line of cottages with a church spire, or the approach of a storm, is varied and interesting, and is prolific enough to provide new subjects the year round.
Max. Toch.
KROMSKOP COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY*
PROBABLY no photographic problem has received more attention than that of color photography The de- sire to reproduce the colors as well as the forms and lights and shades of objects is as old as photography itself, and in the course of more than half a century hopes of success have very often been raised only to be followed by disappointment. The pursuit of color photography in the pop- ular sense has proved ever to be the pursuit of an ignis fatuus. There appears to be even less hope to-day than there was half a century ago that any chemical compound. may ever be found which shall be converted by the action of colored light into correspondingly colored pigments, and all real progress has been made along other lines, the basis of which is physical rather than chemical science. In fact, the only really practical realiza-
tion of the reproduction of the colors of natureby photographic means is a composite process based upon the trichromatic theor}' of color vision, and which produces, in the photo- graphic process itself, not a re- production in colors, but a record of colors, which serves as the basis of a reproduction in colors, just as the indented wax cylinder of the g^apho- phone is a record of sound which serves to reproduce sound only in connection with the graphophone itself.
Prof. James Clerk-Maxwell's experimental demonstration, in 1861, that by suitable mix- tures of three particular spectrum colors— a red, a green, and a blue - all of the colors in nature could be counterfeited to the eye, pointed the way to the production of a true record of the colors of objects in three monochrome photo- graphic images, and the means for securing such color records have since been realized and per- fected.
Given such a color record, there are various ways in which it can be utilized to secure a com- posite image in colors which simulates nature itself. Maxwell himself proposed the use of three magic lanterns, to project the three images in exact register upon a screen, each with a light corresponding to that with which the respective photograph was made; Henry Collen carried the idea further, and suggested the production of composite color prints; Louis Ducos Du Hauron first proposed the optical blending of the images in an instrument to be used like a stereoscope,
A WINDY SUNSET.
Majc. Tock.
and also proposed the production of a color record in a single image which may be described as a mosaic ol the three, and optical blending of the elements of this record by a corresponding
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Early History of Photography
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mosaic color screen, an idea which has recently been practically developed by Joly and Mc- Donough.
Up to 1888, none of these trichromatic methods had produced even promising results, and it was then generally believed that only crude and unsatisfactory results would ever be obtained by any such means. At this time, Mr. Frederic Ives announced a new and definite principle and method of color selection and optical synthesis, and practically demonstrated the possibility of accurately reproducing the most varied and delicate hues of colors by tri- chromatic photography and triple lan- tern projection.
Since the success of Mr. Ives* method became generally known, there has been a g^eat revival of interest and activity along these lines, and great efforts have been made to practically develop tri- chromatic photography in all of its forms. Mr. Ives himself has given most of his attention to the development of comparatively simple and direct means, involving optical synthesis, and has real- ized by far the most perfect results that have ever been attained, so per- fect, in fact, that the reproductions pre- sented in his "Kromskop" appear like mirrored reflections of the objects them- selves.
Mr. Ives' Kiomskop system as now perfected, is practically reduced to the simplicity of ordinary stereoscopic pho- tography. A triple photograph is made in a special but neat and simple camera, upon a single sensitive plate, and at one exposure. From this negative a posi- tive is made, mounted on frame, and viewed in the "Kromskop," which is used like a stereoscope, and the object photographed appears to stand again before the eyes. The results are unique, in that they are both true as to color, and without "lines" or other mechanical structure.
Although this is not exactly the color photography that the world has looked for, it is an achievement the practical importance of which can hardly be esti- mated. Already the Kromskop system is coming into practical use in the fields of art, medicine, and commerce, and amateur photographers are taking it up with enthusiasm.
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE EARLY HIS- TORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY.*
(Continued,)
Use of thf. Paper.
TAe Calotype paper is sensitive to light in an extra- ordinary degree, which transcends a hundred times or more that of any kind of photographic paper hitherto described. This may be made manifest by the follow- ing experiment : Take a piece of this paper, and hav- ing covered half of it, expose the other half to daylight
•Copyrijfhied, iqoo. in the United States by Thk Photographic Times Publishing Association.
♦ Copyrighted in Great Britain by The Photogram^ Limited.
MY FRICNO THOMAS.
A. Hoiden,
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A. C. I'^nH Buren.
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Early History of ^Photography
357
for the space of one second in dark cloudy weather in winter. This brief moment suffices to produce a strong impression upon the paper. But the impression is latent and invisible, and its existence would not be suspected by any one who was not forewarned of it by previous experiments.
The method of causing the impression to become visi- ble is extremely simple. It consists in washing the paper once more with the gallo-nitrate of silver, pre- pared in the way before described, and then warming it gently before the fire. In a few seconds the part of the paper upon which the light has acted begins to darken, and finally grows entirely black, while the other part of the paper retains its whiteness. Kven a weaker impres- sion than this may be brought out by repeating the w^ash of gallo-nitrate of silver, and again warming the paper. On the other hand, a strong impression does not require the warming of the paper, for the wash of the gallo-nitrate suffices to make it visible, without heat, in the course of a minute or two.
A very remarkable proof of the sensitiveness of the calotype paper is afforded by the fact stated by the author, that it will take an impression from simple moonlight, not concentrated by a lens. If a leaf is laid upon a sheet of the paper, an image of it may be ob- tained in this way in from a quarter to half an hour.
This paper, being possessed of so high a degree of sensitiveness, is, therefore, well suited to receive images in the camera obscura. If the aperture of the object lens is one inch, and the focal length fifteen inches, the author finds that one minute is amply sufficient in sum- mer to impress a strong image, upon the paper, of any building upon which the sun is shining. When the aperture amounts to one-third of the focal length, and the object is very white, as a plaster bust, etc., it appears to him that one second is sufficient to obtain a pretty good image of it.
The images thus received upon the calotype paper are for the most part invisible impressions. They may be made visible by the process already related, namely, by washing them with the gallo-nitrate of silver, and then warming the paper. When the paper is quite blank, as is gen- erally the case, it is a highly curious and beautiful phenomenon to see the spontaneous commencement of the picture, first tracing out the stronger outlines, and then grad- ually filling up all the numerous and complicated details. The artist should watch the picture as it de- velops itself, and when in his judg- ment it has attained the greatest degree of strength and clearness, he should stop further progress by washing it with the fixing liquid.
The Fixing Process. To fix the picture, it should first be washed with water, then lightly dried with blotting paper, and then washed with a solution of bromide of potassium, containing loo grains of that salt dissolved in eight or ten
ounces of water. After a minute or two it should be again dipped in water and then finally dried. The pic- ture is in this manner very strongly fixed, and with this great advantage, that it remains transparent, and that, therefore, there is no difficulty in obtaining a copy from it. The calotype picture is a negative one, in which the lights of nature are represented by shades; but the copies are positive, having the light conformable to nature. They also represent the objects in their natural position with respect to right and left. The copies may be made upon calotype paper in a very short time, the invisible impressions being brought out in the way al- ready described. But the author prefers to make the copies upon photographic paper prepared in the way he originally described in a memoir read to the Royal Society* in February, 1839, and which is made by wash- ing the best writing paper, first with a weak solution of common salt, and next with a solution of nitrate of silver. Although it takes a much longer time to obtain a copy upon this paper, yet when obtained, the tints appear more harmonious and pleasing to the eye; it requires in general from three minutes to thirty minutes of sun- shine, according to circumstances, to obtain a good copy on this sort of photographic paper. The copy should be washed and dried, and the fixing process (which may be deferred to a subsequent day) is the same as that al- ready mentioned. The copies are made by placing the picture upon the photographic paper, with a board below and a sheet of glass above and pressing the papers into close contact by means of screws or otherwise.
This process Talbot patented in 1841 (English Patent, No 89,842, 1841 ). ^^^ wording of his specification being practically identical with the foregoing description of his process. He claimed : (i) The use of gallic acid or tincture of galls in conjunction with a solution of silver for
* Phil. Mag.y 3rd series, vol. xiv., p. 20Q.
TAIBOT-S PHOTOQIIAPHIC CSTABLISHMCNT AT RCAOINQ.
From a Ctxlotype Print.
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TALSOT'S PRINTING CSTABLiSHMCNT AT RCAOINO.
rendering prepared psfper more sensitive to light; (2) the development of invisible photo- graphic images by washing the paper with liquids acting upon the light-affected parts; (3) the obtaining of portraits from life by this process ; and (4) the use of potassium bromide for fixing the images.
It has been urged by John Werge in his Evo- lution of Photography, that in this, and, indeed, other patents of his Talbot patented other men's discoveries, and that he is not, in fact, entitled to be called the inventor of photog- raphy. Mr. Werge is a strenuous advocate of the claims of the Rev. J. B. Reade, then a scien- tific nian of repute, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. The ground for this contention is the following letter from Reade to E. W. Brayley, the librarian, for many years, of the London Institution, and himself a scientific man:
From a Calotype.
J. B. Reade to E. W.
Brayley, Esq.
March 9, 1839.
*'The most important process, and one probably dif- ferent from any hitherto employed, consists in washing good writing paper with a strong solution of nitrate of silver, containing not less than eight grains to every drachm of distilled water. The paper thus prepared is placed in the dark and allowed to dry gradually. When perfectly dry and just before it is used, I wash it with an infusion of galls prepared according to the Pharma- copoeia, and immediately, even while it is yet wet, throw upon it the image of microscopic objects by means of the solar microscope.
It will be unnecessary for me to describe the effect as I am able to illustrate it by drawings thus produced. I
will only add, with respect to the time, that the drawing of the Flea was perfected in less than five min- utes, and the section of cane and the spiral vessels of the stalk of common rhubarb in about eight or ten min- utes. These drawings were fixed by hyposulphite of soda. They may also be fixed by immersing them for a few minutes in salt and water, and then for the same time in a weak solu- tion of hydiiodate of potash. The drawing of the Trientalis Europea was fixed by this latter method; it was produced in half a minute, and the difference in the color of the ground is due to this rapid and more powerful action of the solar rays. This paper may be successfully used in the camera obscura."
From this letter, which will be found in The North British Review, 1847, p. 470, it is proba- ble that Reade had indepen- dently devised a photographic process which was similar to that described by Talbot to the Royal Society on February 21, 1839, with the added advantage that Reade had recognized the " fixing ** properties of thiosulphates. Werge, however, construes this letter into a discovery of the latent image, and makes much of the fact that Talbot heard from Andrew Ross of Readers use of gallic acid in the above process. That this is a false interpretation is evident from the evidence given by Talbot and Reade in the trial of the case of Talbot v, Laroche in December, 1854. — ( The Photographic Society s Journal, Decem- ber 21, 1854.)
Talbot, in cross-examination, stated that An- drew Ross told him that Mr. Reade recom- mended infusion of galls for making paper more rapid, and that he was unaware that Mr. Reade had developed images with gallic acid. Reade, on the other hand, stated that he used tincture of galls and silver method. " He washed paper with a solution of common salt, then with nitrate of silver, and that he placed it before the solar microscope to receive the picture and he washed it with an infusion of galls, and pro- ceeded to take the picture. He found it neces- sary to keep the paper wet, and in order to see how the picture was being developed, though he had no idea of an absolutely invisible image, but in order to strengthen the image which had been produced, he put his head in the micros- cope and watched how the picture was being developed, and when it had come to a certain tone
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of blackness which he termed solar- mezzotinto, he suspended the operation and fixed by hyposulphite of soda; and that he had on one occasion been called away, and at that time a piece of paper had only been a short space of time under the action of light, but when he came back he found an image on it. This, however, did not give him the idea of a latent image, and he had not the slightest notion of it until he learned it from Mr. Talbot."
Another piece of evidence may be mentioned. Hunt, in 1850, prepared a synopsis of the progress of photography which appears in the ** British Associa- tion Report " for that year. In this he makes no mention of Reade, nor does he include any reference to Reade in a revised synopsis which he appended to the second edition of his Photography (1851), but in the third edition (1854), a reference to the work of Reade does appear in this synopsis. The inference seems to be that until 1852, or later, Hunt — who more than any of his con- temporaries was the chronicler of pho- tographic progress — knew nothing of Reade's experiments.
The reasonable conclusion as to the rival claims of the two experimenters is as follows : Reade equally with Talbot devised photographic print-out processes (Talbot, as the print on page 360 shows, as early as 1835; Reade, so it is said, in 1837). Reade deserves credit for the application of thiosulphate; Talbot per- ceived the possibility and potency of the development of the latent image, an idea which he may have taken from Daguerre's altogether different development process.
Looking over what Talbot did from a chemi- cal point of view it is seen that his researches
KARLV CAMCHA MCTURC BY FOX TALBOT, AUGUST, 1836. THC WINDOW IS THAT SHOWN ASOVC.
WINDOW AT LACOCK ASSCV. THC SUSJCCT OF THC VICW TAKCN IN 183S SV FOX TALSOT (SCC SMALL PRINT 8CLOW.)
possess continuity. His first process — a print- out process — was Davy's with a difference. In the first place he found that he obtained a much more sensitive compound if he kept the silver nitrate in excess. In other words, he found out the " sensitizing '* action of silver nitrate. His second and more important advance was the discovery of rendering the printed images permanent. For this, he used potassium iodide, bromide and sodium chloride (common salt). These alka- line haloids have, as is well known, a solvent action on the corresponding silver haloid. Thus silver iodide dissolved in potassium iodide solu- tion and silver chloride in brine. But it was not this solvent action upon which Talbot based his " fixing " process, because he used potassium
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Photography of the Stage
[August
VCRV KARLV PRINT (cONTACt) MADE SV FOX TALSOT IN 1t8«.
bromide for fixing prints taken on silver iodide, which is not appreciably soluble in the bromide solution. Many prints fixed in this way between 1835 ^^^ 1^40 still exist (in the possession of C. H. Talbot) in condition very little the worse for time. The next step, made in 1840, of the development of the latent image has been re- ferred to above.
That Talbot possessed the inventive faculty, not merely in matters chemical, but, in photo- graphic practice, is shown by the number of his patents. He quite realized the possibilities of the new science, and while some of the processes he sought to patent are the common routine of every photographer to day, they were not so then.
(To be continued,)
PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE STAGE.
BY DR. E. N. HEARD.
THE photographing of scenes and groups on the Stage, by the means of a flash-light, has been practiced for years, but such photography, without the aid of a flash-light, is> so far as I can ascertain, new. When I say new, I mean that I have not been able to find any articles upon the subject, in magazines. I make this apparent dearth an excuse for the present article.
About a year ago, while attending a perform- ance given by local talent, in which the light was furnished by a front arc light, together with a parabolic reflector, just made by a local electrician, T conceived the idea of testing the power of the light for photographic purposes. The company being a local one and the elec- trician a friend of mine, and he desiring to show the power of his light, I had everything my own way. Of course I knew that if the exposure was long enough the result would be good, as is proven in the gallery, where pictures are taken by electric light^ but my experiments were for the purpose of finding a minimum time of exposure.
With the co-operation of the company and the electrician I was able to get a good negative with an exposure of two seconds. It is of the methods employed in my first efforts, and sub- sequent and more successful efforts, of which I wish to speak. Although to some, this article may contain nothing new, yet for many there
may be a few ideas that will be of assistance to any one wishing to experiment in this line.
The reduction of time of exposure means the obtaining of a powerful light, the use of a very rapid lens, and a rapid isochromatic plate, suita- ble developers, intensification, and printing on proper papers. Every item has some weight, as one will find on trial.
The lighting of the stage is much better than it was a few years ago, the ark light being used both in the flies and from the balcony. By the aid of a parabolic reflector, the light is very evenly distributed over the entire stage, from the front of the house, one side light in the flies taking off the otherwise excessive shadows. In the smaller Opera Houses where the balconies come nearer the stage, the light, decreasing as
■CCNC FROM OLIVET*
TAKEN PROM PINST SALCONV IN SECONDS.
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(t. Marissi'aux.
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Photography of the Stage
[AlTGl'ST
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S^ Sfii s>s^< 11/ 1 . |
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aiSSON HCTUIIC— TASLKAU TAKCN IN 9 •KCONOS FROM FRONT SCAT OF PAROUCTTC.
it does, with the square of the distance, is very powerful. The current is usually of a' variable quantity, being greater at night than in the day time. In order to get the greatest light possi- ble, two arcs are some- times used in the same reflector. By cutting out all resistance at the time of the exposure of the plate, this light can be greatly increased. The incandescent lights, al- though adding to the illumination of the stage, and giving a slight impression on an isochromatic plate, only prove a detriment, as some of the disappoint- ing pictures will show.
Facps in bright light will be black, and the scenery of great beauty will be in dense shadow, while other pictures will show that the arc lights in the flies spread over only a small portion of the stage. It is only when front light cannot be obtained that this unequal illumina- tion is troublesome.
The lens used should be the fastest made, working at //3.6, but I have obtained fair results with //i6. Since the introduction of anastigmatic lenses, it is possible for the ama- teur to get lenses of great speed. Do not depend upon reputed value of your lens, but test in every way, for yourself. See that the // value is what it is said to be, and that the field is perfectly sharp at full opening, and that the depth of focus is great enough to insure cutting all parts of the stage, without a stop. It is sad but true, that three-fourths of the pro-
fessional photographers know very little about the lens they use daily; they can take a strange lens, and by judging the amount of illumina- tion on the ground glass, can get a good picture, but when it comes to giving the proper time by measurement, they cannot do it.
The // value is found by the following rule; divide the focal length in micro-millimeters by the diameter of the circle of light (also in mms.) entering the front combination. This diameter can be obtained in the following manner: Draw the lens out to infinity, remove the ground- glass and substitute a piece of cardboard in the center of which a small hole has been made; darken the room and hold a light close to the hole in the cardboard. Look through the lens from the front and measure the diameter of the circle of illumination.
If sitting near the center of the Balcony the image will be too small with a 7 inch focus, and an II inch or 14 inch focus is better, unless one wishes to enlarge the picture afterwards. It is best to be on a level with the stage, as distortion occurs otherwise, unless the ground-glass be kept vertical, and this, in the majority of lenses, makes stops necessary, to get a sharp image. The camera should be rested upon the railing, or screwed fast to a small board taken along for the purpose. If the photograph be taken from a front seat in the house, a sliding tripod may be used.
QISSON PICTURC--WITH 10 SECOND* CXPOtURC UNDER SAME CONDITIONS.
OIB»ON PICTURE-'EXPOSURE 6 SECONDS.
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^otography of the Stage
i(>X
seen, as one is sure
aiSSON ^ICTUIIC»CX^OSURC 30 ON ARC DURINa PORTION OP TH
raised just high enough not to catch the orchestra with the front board elevated, and yet not high enough to obstruct the view of those behind, or to attract general attention.
If possible the play should not be photo- graphed the first time to miss the finest parts. If given by a local company, one can have a second curtain held a little longer than usual by asking the privilege of the stage manager, and it is best to have the company informed of the fact that the picture is to be taken, warning them not to sway backward and forwards. Al- though so slow as to be imperceptible to
the naked eye, the camera shows that the majority of persons in a tableau shift positions.
Upon the rising of the curtain, just as soon as the faces are seen, make the exposure; the moving curtain does not show, and only lightens the background, which is apt to be too dark anyway. On the descent of the curtain, close the camera as the former reaches the figures. An ordinary curtain occupies from 4 to 6 seconds.
When developing the plate, one must remem- ber that he is liable to have an under-expos- ure, and a contrasty negative. He must therefore use a soft developer, and a well diluted solution, to give plenty of time for the developer to soak through the film without the alkali being so concentrated as to fog the plate.
Metol hydrochinon is a good developer, diluted four times with water. Use plenty of solution, and if tired during dev^elopment, cover over and let stand for some time, rocking at intervals to keep developer from spotting the negative. If a full exposure be found, the faces may be too dense and must be reduced; if under-
• CCONDS WITH VCLLOW LIGHT C TIME. IftOCHROMMIC PLATE.
QISSON PICTUIIC--CXPOSUflC IB SCCONDS WITH NO. 16 STOP. ItOCHROIIATIC PLATC.
exposed, the plate must be carefully strengthr ened with mercury and ammonia, or uranium nitrate, according to the amount of strength- ening required. In bringing up under-expos- ures, subsequent local restriction must at times be practiced on the faces and white dra- peries. Thin negatives will not stand aristo- platino, but the con- trasty negatives will be finest on this paper. In the accompanying photographs, No. i shows a second cur- tain in Olivet, taken from the second bal- cony. The exposure was two seconds, with a Zeiss Series II, 7 inch focus, developed with the metol-hyd., I to 4, and strength- ened with ammonia. The blurring to the left is due to the movement of one of the chorus girls who fought the comedian during the entire curtain. The picture was taken without the knowledge of the Company, and a front light was used without side lights. In the other pictures, taken from a front seat, of a local production of " Gibson Pictures " a tableau of 30 seconds was given and only side lights were used. The Zeiss Series Vila, 11)4 inch focus, was used, and 15 seconds ex- posure given with// 1 6 stop ; 7 seconds for Cupids and large groups were liable to move, with full open- mg, //12.5; 2 seconds also, gave fair nega- tive on intensification, but not good enough for aristo-platino prints.
I go into the minutiae of these things, as I find, only by repeated failure can one usually have success, unless he utilizes the failures of others.
When you go to the right kind of a play for the purpose, try a little theatre photography, and if you get fair success, you may congratu- late yourself, not upon your luck, but upon your skill.
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An Outing in the Tennessee Mountains
[August
AN OUTING IN THE TENNESSEE MOUNTAINS.
BY MRS. M. M. DAVIS.
IT was four o'clock on
t ^ "^ "^"'^TSIB^H ^ cloudy
mk ^^9^^:;.^ .-^^1^ v^l^B July mom-
■t \^V^j^^^^^^B JJ ing, but the
» ^ ^i*r3iiMtf8i^^^^wH — house was
astir. Ten happy peo- ple were startin g mi ~TMMi' ■■ - ■ on a sixty J r ,^ja|l^ ' ''' ■ mile drive
H 1 ^^3^^F^~^""^^^ ^o spend a a ^""T^ ^IW ''^^*^ ' *^'0 weeks ji . 3^ camping in
the moun- -i- «».— --^ vf^ T-y^Wq-i tains. The
buggy and two hacks were loaded the night before, so only a few last things were to be added, breakfast eaten, and we were off. The first day's drive was through the **flatwoods," with nothing of particular interest for our photographer. We camped in the corn- crib of a friendly farmer till Monday morning, when we were once more mer- rily on our way.
The road now wound along the banks of the Little Tennessee River at the foot of the Chilhowee Mountains. Through an opening in the trees we saw two fishermen in a canoe running a trotline, utterly oblivious of the kodak which " Grandma " pointed towards them. A little further on, but across the river from us, was the Mahroney house, talked of in all the mountain coves as that ** big house in the edge of the flat woods." Again the kodak was leveled, but the Mahroney castle was too far away for the little machine to show any of its grandeur.
Turning away from the river here we began a steady climb, and went up and up and up till we were among the clouds and then above the clouds. Now we were winding around the mountain side, coming nearer the river once more. Far below we could hear the waters as they tumbled over the rocks in their haste to get out into the broad world of com-
merce. The river twisted and turned among the mountains, winding in and out, sometimes so near us that a single misstep and we would have fallen into its shining depths or on its rocky shoals — sometimes so far away it seemed a sil- ver chain with borderings of emeralds. That Monday night we spent in a deserted bee cabin in a tiny cove, so shut in by mountains and overhung by such stately oaks as to make it impossible for the sun ever to reach it. Near the cabin a tiny spring ran softly away to join the noisy river. " Grandma " tried in vain to kodak this lonely little spot.
Tuesday noon found us unloading at the cabin in **The Meadow," where a tent was soon stretched for the gentlemen of the party, and here we spent two such happy weeks.
We saw many of the mountain people. They are a kindly folk, and treated us as if they had been lifelong friends. One day "Grandma" get a snap at some of us and our mountain neighbors looking at a rattlesnake one of the natives had killed.
From the North Carolina line, looking into
MEADOW " CABIN.
M. .V. Davis.
Tennessee, there is such a pretty view of our cabin in the meadow and the grand old Smoky mountains piled range on range till it seems as if mountains and clouds unite. This was also the subject for ** Grandma's " kodak.
Some of the mountain people asked " Grand- ma" to take their picturs," which she did,
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TNC OUAND old smoky " MOUNTAINS.
if/. M. Davis »
letting them pose themselves. One picture is of a herder's family standing by their cabin. Another shows them with some of their friends, who had dropped in to practice pistol and rifle shooting. The picture ** Grandma " likes best of all the mountain people is one of Cynthy, Baxter Lee and their pet pig. Baxter Lee was a little shy when " Grandma '* appeared to take the picture and hung back in the house. His mother took him by the shoulders and plumped him into a chair by Cynthy, remarking: " Set thar while the woman takes your pictur."
This picture ** Grandma " took the day we left the mountains as we passed the herder's cabin on our way back to the ** flatwoods."
We all with one accord gave a sigh of regret as we caught the last glimpse of the little cabin in the mountain meadow, and promised our- selves a longer stay next time.
BLUE-BLACK TONE IN PLATINOTVPES.
J. E. Watson recommends substituting an oxalate of ammonia bath, consisting of two ounces of oxalate of ammonia in 40 ounces of water, for the third (and last) acid bath generally used in clearing platinotypes. This secures a blue-black tone and the last traces of iron are completely removed from the print. — Photo- Miniature.
LANTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGIN- NERS*
BY '* PRIMROSE HILL."
X.— STANDARD DEVELOPERS.
SO far we have confined our attention to hydroquinone as the developing k agent. f (29) For the beginner hydroquin-
one is one of the best developers for him to start with. But when he has acquired some little experience in the making of slides he will surely ask himself, " Is this the only de- veloper ?" " Why is this recommended ?'* " Why cannot I use for slide-making the same agent (pyro, metol, ortol, etc., etc.) that I use for negative-making or bromide-print developing ?" Let us answer these questions in order. Hydro- quinone is not the only lantern-slide developer by any means. It is a good one to begin with, because it is easy to mix, keeps fairly well, gives a good black-and-white slide, and does not tend to 'fog. Anything that will develop a negative or bromide print will develop an ordinary slide.
We set before the reader a large number of formulae which have been collected from vari- ous sources. Our object in setting down so many formulae is not that the reader should be invited to experimentally wade through the series, but that he may select one (or perhaps two) which will conveniently work in with those negative-developing formulae with which he has had the greatest experience and obtained the best results. Every developing agent is some good for some particular class of work, so each must select for himself.
iii^
TNC HCRDCR'S FAMILY.
M, M. Davis.
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TWILIGHT.
A. lVent7vo7fk Scott.
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(30) Dry Pyro. — Prepare the following solu- tion:
Soda carbonate (clean crystals
washing or kitchen soda) 1 ounce
Water 10 ounces
Potassium bromide 10 grains
To develop a slide to i grain of dry pyro, add 1 ounce of the above solution, stir with a glass rod, and use as a developer. This gives a brown-black slide of a pleasing color, and very suitable for architectural or woodland studies.
(31) Pyro {One Solution). — Prepare as much only as is likely to be wanted at one bout of the following :
Pyro 3 grains
Potassium bromide 3 grains
Potassium caustic 5 grains
Ammonium carbonate 6 grains
Water i ounce
This, with a full exposure on a slow lantern plate, gives a warm brown color. Thisformulse is not recommended for general use because of its tendency to stain the gelatine, but it is a use- ful one for special purposes.
(32) Pyro Acetone, for warm colors. —
A
Pyro 200 g^ins
Soda sulphite 3 ounces
Sulphuric acid 20 drops
Water ic ounces
B
Acetone ^2 ounce
Water 10 ounces
For normal use take equal parts of A and B. It will be noted that the proportion of pyro is unusually high.
The resulting colors vary from black, through brown, to warm sepia, according to the relative increase of acetone. It has been stated that so long as the acetone does not exceed a certain small proportion, depending on the brand of plates, the color of the slides remains the same for long or short exposures.
It may be of convenience to some readers to have at hand one or two hydroquinone develop- ers of good repute.
(33) Hydroquinone {Single Solution). —
Hydroquinone . . 2 grains
Soda sulphite 5 grains
Caustic soda i grain (^j)
Potassium bromide \^ grain (3)
Water i ounce
It is best to prepare this at frequent intervals, as it does not keep in good condition very long.
If warm tones are required, the proportions given in brackets should be substituted. The normal formulae as above is for black tones.
(34) Hydroquinone {Two Solutions). — Retain- ing as our standard our original formulae as given in par. 7, we may yet find it convenient to have an alternative.
A
Hydroquinone. 80 grains
Soda sulphite .400 grains
Citric acid 40 grains
Potassium bromide 40 grains
Water 10 ounces
B Caustic potash, or caustic soda. . . 80 g^ins
Or potassium carbonate 600 grains
Water 10 ounces
This will give us good blacks with normal exposures, or when the exposure has been gen- erous and the developer diluted with an equal or greater quantity of water, warm engraving blacks.
With some slide makers eikonogen is a first favorite, therefore we append a couple of stand- ard formulae
(35) Eikonogen {One Solution). —
Eikonogen 50 or 60 grains
Potassium bromide 10 or 2 grains
Sodium sulphite 50 or 90 grains
Water 10 oz. 10 ounces
The warm tones take the first given figures, the black tones the second set of figures.
(36) Eikonogen { Two Solutions). —
A
Eikonogen io») grains
Potassium metabisulphite 50 grains
Potassium bromide 20 grains
Water 10 ounces
B
Potassium or sodium carbonate. 200 grains
Sodium sulphite 200 grains
Water 10 ounces
Take equal parts of A and B. This gives slides full of detail without excessive contrast.
(37) Eikonogen and Hydroquinone {One Solu- tion).—This is a mixture recently recognized, and worthy of notice as a one-solution mixture that keeps fairly well
Eikonogen 20 grains
Hydroquinone 8 grains
Citric acid 20 grains
Sodium sulphite 1 20 grains
Potassium bromide to 9 grains '
Potassium or sodium carbonate. . 60 grains Water 20 ounces
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Lantern Slide Making
[August
For warm tones increase the exposure up to ten times, and dilute the developer with water.
(38) Metol {One Solution). — Metol at one time was a very popular developer, but owing to the fact that with some feiv people it is apt to cause sore fingers and skin troubles, it has been rather neglected of late. It is, however, an admirable developer, giving any range of density with lit- tle or no tendency to stain the gelatine. Here is a worthy formulae:
Metol 20 grains
Sodium sulphite 200 grains
Potassiufn bromide 2 grains
Potassium (or sodium) carbonate. 100 grains
Note the small proportion of bromide needed With metol the image comes out very quickly, but gains density slowly. Therefore the general tendency is to stop development too ioon. Hence the mistake of the common say- ing that metol will not give density. It will, but you must give it time.
(39) Metol ( Two Solutions). —
A
Metol 50 grains
Soda sulphite i ounce
Water 10 ounces
Potassium bromide 5 grains
B Soda carbonate (washing soda). . i ounce Water 10 ounces
Take equal parts of A and B.
( 40 ) Metol and Hydroqu in one ( Two Solutions) .
— This is one of the most popular combinations
both for lantern slide and negative making.
A
Metol 25 grains
Hydroquinone 12 grains
Soda sulphite \^ ounce
Water 10 ounces
B
Soda carbonate 200 grains
Potassium bromide 15 grains
Water lo ounces
Take equal parts of A and B. (To be Continued.)
THE MONK or SAN JUAN.
H^.J. Piatt.
Digitized by
Journal of Photosfraphic Socfet7 of Philadelphia — May and June.
In this last issue we find reports of papers by John Bartlett, Wm. S. Vaux, Jr., Edmund Stir- ling, and a note on Mr. Keiley's work by Eva L. Watson.
Apropos of Mr* Keiley, by Eva L. Watson.
The persistence with which some mistaken ideas re- lating to the '* Keiley Method of Glycerine Develop- ment " have been repeated, makes it necessary that some effort be made to get at the bottom of the matter. Ap- parently there is confusion in the minds of a few people who are thinking that ** brush development" means ** glycerine development/' and that Mr. Keiley has claimed to be the first to use glycerine as a retarder. Mr. Hinton seme time ago published in his book on Platinotype Piiuting some details of a process of brush development introduced by Mr. Willis at the London Camera Club. The method employed by Mr. Keiley differs materially, and is not quite as recent as his generous public demonstrations have been. When his first prints were shown in public, there were a number of experienced workers who were frank enough to acknowledge that the means of obtaining such results were unknown to them
Another theme which has been harped on is some words of Mr. Keiley's expressing a general appreciation of the big and uncompromising spirit in which the Chicago Salon Committee treated the cause— realizing so fully the importance of this new movement and mak- ing a record in its progress. The Salon Committee is not likely to misconstrue anything said in **The Fore- word," printed in the Exhibition Catalogue into an expression of egotism or patronage.
We know better in Philadelphia than is anywhere else recognized, the disinterested and generous spirit in which the editors of Camera Notes have worked for photography, cooperating earnestly in the Salon move- ment, and giving full credit to Philadelphia for the facilities offered to carry out its purpose to establish an annual salon on the highest principles. We fail to see that they have made any narrow or personal claims, and we hope Philadelphia would have acted in the same spirit had the center of work been made somewhere else.
The recent exhibition of Mr. Keiley's work on the Club walls gave a fair opportunity to discover something
of his purpose and his range of subjects. They ate the expressions of a strong personality, mostly showing great simplicity and much feeling. The interest is al- ways concentrated, and if occasionally the motive seems somewhat vague, it is possible that it is not studied with such responsiveness as a subtle expression requires. When a fault in drawing is very evident we may con- gratulate ourselves that we are able to detect it, and not fancy the artist is blind to it. It requires much school- ing to draw perfectly, and many great painters never succeeded in doing it. There seems to be much disa- greement as to the legitimacy of his work, but its value grows with association.
An artist must paint as his eyes tell him things look, make the music or say the words that express his own feelings, make photographs that convey something of his personal inspiration of the scene or object before him. No one, surely, is interested in a camera's point of view. The camera belongs on the list of labor-saving inventions with Wilcox & Gibbs' automatic sewing machine, which *' even a child can run," unless the per- sonality of the photographer can be felt through his method of manipulating his tool. I fancy be cannot obliterate the tool-marks too much if they hinder the expression of his thought.
It would be a pitiful performance to '* hold a mirror up to Nature" in the sense of turning one's back to its deep beauty and looking at it over one's shoulder in a hand-glass— a fair parallel with covering up one's head merely to focus on a ground-glass and fix the section of a map on a plate to be reproduced according to demand.
We need to look into nature by the aid of the camera, be ourselves the reflectors. Sometimes we may see only straight lines; another time curves and the sweep of great circles, |>erhaps just masses of color-values from black to white. Perhaps we may never get away from the fascination of the great vague suggestions of mystery— such as shadows distorted by the form of the ground or the wall against which they fall— blessing the imagination which can trace through them the great lines of the true ideal.
Photo-Beacon.— Joly*
" Doctoring and Caring for Negatives " by J. Edgar Ross is an excellent paper for begin- ners rt-;^^ others, and is worth the price of a whole years* subscription. A. G. Graff has an article on ** How to Bind the Photo- Beacon " which the
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Our Monthly Digest
[August
intelligent reader can naturally apply to any other journal. C. W. Hackett gives his method — with diagrams — of obtaining " Stereo Pictures with Single Lenses,'* and W. Marshall writes on that evergreen subject " Photographing Children" which is accompanied with some happy illustrations. R. W. Hilts and J. C. Eby each give particulars of some home-made appliances.
Doctoring and Gtriocr for Negatives, hy J. Edgar Ren.
During the day* of albumen paper varnishing was necessary, but it is seldom practiced at the present time. There is quite a knack about varnishing, and so seldom will the amateur need to practice it thai it is scarcely worth the learning; for unless a negative is well varnished it is worse for the operation, if you use albumen, plain silvered, or any other paper that is liable to stain the negative, here are two substitutes for varnishing that can be much more readily handled. The first is this : Take the dry negative after all contemplated •* doctor- ing " has been attended to and heat it in any convenient way. It should be as hot as can be borne on the hand. Now with a camel's hair brush or a wad of cotton paint the film side with melted paraffin and wipe the surface with a clean wad of cotton to remove the surplus wax. When the negative cools water may be spilled upon it and wiped off without injury to the film. Here is the other method : Immerse the dry negative in a ten per cent, solution of bichromate of potash. After ten or fifteen minutes remove and dry in a light place with- out washing. Gelatine treated with bichromate of potash and exposed to the light becomes insoluble even in hot water. 1 treat all of my valuable negatives in that way.
Every writer who has anything to say on the subject advises a different way of handling negatives. Some of the advice that 1 have read is good, much of it is bad. Of the latter sort 1 want to mention one thing that I have seen published more than once. That is, the packing of negatives film to film in plate boxes. Don't doit. It is almost impossible to remove them without scratching those that lie film up If you stand your negatives on end have them^/w side in. If you pack them in boxes put them fiim down.
I furnish all of my negatives with a mat of black paper, pasted on the film side. I have practiced this for several years, and though I have moved around a great deal and packed and unpacked my negatives repeatedly, I have never had one scratched or broken.
Wilson's Photographic Magazine* — Jonc*
** A Study in Blue '* offers some suggestions regarding blue platinotypes with the possibility of their finding favor with the public. " Groups " is an excellent article, with reference more especially to out-door work. John Tennant writes on "Proofs and Self-Respect" in his usual clear manner. Most of the articles in this number are reprints from other journals.
Photo-Era*— July*
Mr. Eickemeyer's well-known picture "The Dancing Lesson " forms the frontispiece, and is well reproduced. This picture first appeared in the February issue of the Times. Mrs. Nellie M. C. Knappen writes on " Piazza Portraiture," and at the start gives credit to an article in the American Annual for suggesting that class of work to her. C. F. Stiles in " Summer Work at the Seashore/* gives some valuable ideas to the amateur. F. S. Dobbins' paper on " Telephotog- raphy " which has already appeared elsewhere, is reproduced with illustrations which make it of value.
St. Louis and Canadian Photographer* — Ttily.
The professional journals are beginning now to take up the discussion between, the new and the old school photographers. G. Hammer Croughton, under the title " Echoes " gives some very sensible remarks concerning the whole matter which we reproduce. As Mr. Croughton is himself one of the oldest of old-time photo- graphers, his words have particular force.
Echoes^ by G. Haaimer Crouc^hton.
The advocates of pure photography( whatever that may be) and the advocates of dodging, or probably I should say manipulating, the negative and print to get the best pictorial results, are again clearly at issue, and one New York journal has taken to ridicule in its endeavors to support its own views.
It is the same old, oft-repeated controversy which 1 suppose will never be settled to the satisfaction of both parties, but ridicule and buffoonery never advanced any argument yet. It only makes one think of the attorney who gave his advocate directions to abuse the other attorney because he had no case
This is a matter that has interested me for a great many years and I am still unconvinced by any of the many arguments that have been urged on this side. In the first place I have never been able ta get an answer to the question as to what is meant by pure photog- raphy, nor to the equally important one of where they (the advocates of pure photography) would draw the line.
It has always appeared to me that the arguments used, if carried out, would tend to the same kind of thing on the hard and fast rules of certain trades unions where a quick and clever workman is prohibited from working either quicker or better than the dullest and slowest workman in the shop, because it will make it hard for him, so reducing the quick and expert man to a dead level of mediocrity. Carry out this idea and you will have no individuality at all, and photography would not rank even as high as a handicraft, much less as an art.
This demand for pure photography is in my opinion a distinct retrograde movement. I thought we had done
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with sucb infantile ideas, but it appears not, and the old, oft-repeated arguments are doing duty again.
Putting aside the question, * What is a perfect nega- tive ?'* (for what is suitable for one class ot printing pro- cess will not suit another) there are certain things, such as different intensities of light and shade, and other ac- cidental matters, which call for special methods for special results, but if we are to carry out the ideas of these sticklers for pure photography to a logical con- clusion, we must not do anything to modify the re- sults, but take what comes, from a stiaight exposure and development, and if the resulting negative produces a print which is not a true representation of the scene we must not do anything to the negative because it would not be pure photography.
^How many intelligent men are there practicing photog- raphy to-day that will subscribe to this dicta ? In fact, some of the men who were loudest in condemning some of tHe pictures which received prizes at a recent conven- tion, upon the giound that it was not pure photography, had exhibits which showed that they had not spared the work of the retoucher. If, then, one kind of work is allowable where are you going to draw the line? If you are going to insist upon nothing but the action of light and chemicals being accepted as photography, then dismiss your retouchers and give your sitters untouched prints from untouched negatives and let all the medals go to work of the same description, and see how long your societies and your business would last.
The use of glycerine with the developer in platinum printing, which appears to the writer in the Photo American as such a crime against pure photo- graphy, is simply one more tool in the hands of the operator to enable him to get more truthful effects. That it can be abused is no arg^ument against it. As well pro- hibit the use of a razor for shaving because some fools have cut their throats. If a man can get more truthful and pic- torial results by using glycerine in the devel- oper, I cannot see the sense in condemning its use and abusing the user.
The Photo-American -July.
Under its new man- agement this paper is alive indeed, and is full of interesting " '^^%:5-^iV^: articles and ^ood pic- -^-^^ •:^''"^'>^^ tures. Ed. W. New- • - '^-^"^^^^ comb has his "Chat ''^^-.V ' -J^J^^ Here and There,'
' A STORY WITHOUT WORDS."
which is always bright and pithy, and an article on **When Gloss on Prints may be Advantageous." Chas. Thael writes on "The Superiority of the Slow Plate," and A. B. Luce on ** Photography in Bermuda."
''The Supertortty of the Slow Platet^ by Chas. ThaeL
The slow plate fogs but rarely under all reasonable treatment; chemical fog is practically unknown on it, and the body is better — that is, there is more to work on than upon the extra rapid ones. As for developing them, slow plates develop incomparably easier than the fast ones when properly exposed, and are not slow in doing it either; they start right, keep gathering good, honest density after the detail is cut, and do not fix out weak. They are certain to give the best results when their use is permissible. Of course, they are not suitable for races, express trains or rifle balls; they are far out of the race on that class of work, but how few of my readers do much of that kind, and how easy it would be when they want to do such things, to buy a dozen extra rapid plates and use them. Ask the plate-maker which are his best plates, and if he be frank he will say ** the siow ones.*' Now, let us consider what of the summer's work can be done on slow plates. Outdoor portraiture can cer- tainly, and for this branch the slow plate is eminently suitable— just an open and shut of the shutter, say a half a second's exposure, and the portrait is sure to be be about right. There is no under-timing, no over- timing apparently: it develops neatly, acts rationally, needs no sud- den change in the make- up of the devehiper, but just satisfies one as it plods along, beh aving normally in all respects, and when fixed and dried what an excellent printer it does make, crisp and bountiful in detail. One never has the amount of trouble dodging and doc- toring slow- plate nega- tives as with fast ones. Then, for the innumer- able landscapes that will be taken this year what could approach the siow plate ? I venture to say that if two novices went to the country, one with a gross ot fast plates and instructions to ** press the button," the other with a like amount of slow ones and directions to give three to five seconds with stop 32 in the lens, the latter would have eight times as many good nega- tives as the former, and a vastly greater average M. L. Baker. of perfect oues.
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A STORV WITHOUT WORDS."
The Photogfram — ^Eng^Iand, July*
This number contains more than the usual amount of solid information. W. Thomas writes on ** Uncorrected Lenses and their Use "; F. Gibbons on " Reflected Skies in Landscapes "; J. A. Reid on ** Guide Book Illustration " ; and "Harold Holcroft concludes his article on "Halation."
Reflected Skies in Landscapes, by F. Gibbons.
1 give here a method of obtaining a negative from a cloud photograph which combines both the sky and its reflection on one plate, in true perspective as far as the photographer's requirements go. But it must be borne in mind that the water is to be considered as still— ruffled water giving quite different reflections and dis- torting the perspective just in proportion to the amount of the i*uffling. Of course if there is only a little dis- turbance of surface, this would make no perceptible difference. It is also necessary to explain that the clouds and sky are to be considered as being in one vertical plane from the horizon up- wards. This, however, presents no obstacle, as the camera ordinarily takes in but a small angle, and the sky is immensely distant compared with other objects.
We will suppose the photographer to have a suitable cloud negative which he desires to put into a picture in which there is water that reflects the sky. His first aim is to get a good print from it. He will next re- quire a mirror which has but one reflecting surface. An ordinary mir- ror will not do, because it has the reflecting surface of the front face of the glass as well as the mercury- coated back, and this would cause ^^j double reflection, which would en- "^ stoby without
Af. L. Baker.
tirely spoil the effect. The ideal mirror is, no doubt, a piece of plate- glass silvered on the face, but this is quite out of the reach of the average amateur photographer, I have used a piece of ordinary sheet tin, such as is sold by tinsmiths, and used for making tea-kettles, etc. It gives a certain amount of distor- tion, owing to the surface not being flat, but this is no serious drawback with cloud reflections. The mirror is placed on a table or other object. On this, the photographer should place a cardboard box or other ob- ject, and pin or fasten to it with stamp paper his print. Next he should move his table till he gets it into a position where there is no re- flection on his print, and place his camera directly in front, taking care that the lens occupies a suitable position above the mirror, just in proportion to the height at which the original view was taken above the water. If the photographer has a lens of much shorter focal length than his usual one, so much the better, for he will then be able to make his exposure much closer to the object, the best position being that in which the lens is the same distance from the print as the lens was from the focusing screen in taking the original picture. If the reflections are wanted sharp, a small stop will be necessary in making the exposure ; but, generally speaking, this is not deisirable.
On developing, a negative is obtained containing the sky and its reflection in true perspective, which can be printed into a picture by * ' masking out '* all other parts except the sky and water in the usual manner. But care must be taken that the line of intersection betwecri the sky and its reflection coincides with the horizontal line of the picture.
M. L, Baker.
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Halation, by Harold Holcroftt VLK, F.C^*
We now come to the question : How is halation to be cured when it already exists in the negative? The usual plan is to rub the face of the negative with the aid of alcohol. This is but a poor remedy and quite un- scientific, if the halation is of the variety caused by re- flection from the back of the glass page. The image is on the front of the film and the halation at the back, and rubbing the front merely reduces the image, and does not touch the halation. All that is accomplished by the rubbing is a reduction of the total opacity of the spot rubbed at the expense of the quality of the image. The proper course is to strip and reverse the film, when the rubbing can be done and will affect the halation only, leaving the image intact.
The other remedy is to reduce the negative with chromic acid and bromide, and then to re-develop the image on the surface, stopping the action before the halation on the under side is reached; a bath of sodium thiosulphate then removes the halated part.
There has been some discussion lately as to whether backing makes a plate slower or not. We have also the statement that backing does not make a plate slower, but renders it capable of enduring a longer exposure; and again, that emulsion coated upon paper is faster than the same emulsion coated upon glass. These state- ments are based on general experience, but it is much to be desired that some one with the requisite time and capacity would put the questions to the test by accurate experiments.
OUR COMPETITIONS.
A larg^e number of entries were received but the work of only one competitor reached medal order, so the judges recommended the award- ing of a Bronze Medal to
Carl Rau, La Crosse, Wise.
Mr. Rau*s pictures show good composition and lighting, but suffer from a superfluity of detail. His fruit group, shown on this page, is perhaps one of his best.
Cari Ran.
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CLUB MEMORANDA.
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES It the Offidafly Appointed Organ of : the HARVARD CAMERA CLUB, Cambridge, Mass.; the BROOKLYN CAMERA CLUB, Brooklyn, N. Y.
HARVARD CAMERA CXUB.
THE club, during the past year, has tried an unusual policy— unusual in two ways : (i) It is an idea which has not been tried in this club' before and (2) it is an idea which, as yet, the clubs of this country have not adopted as a foundation working principle. This policy, though started as an experiment, has met with a success beyond the expectation of its originator, one proof of which lies in the numbers which grew from about five at the first meeting to two hundred or three hundred at the closing meetings. This policy has accomplished two things : ( i ) It aroused our own club to a truer and more compre- hensive idea of what the Fine Arts are, and (2) it has stirred local clubs to a desire for greater art activity. For two reasons this pol- icy is now made public : First, to supply local clubs with what will fulfil their desire for greater art activity ; and secondly, because it is deemed the only way to raise to higher planes our new Fine Art.
The idea is simply this : to bring artists to speak to photographers. We think that the recognized arts furnish the only true ideals for the camera artist, that from these arts he should get his inspiration and impulse, and it is impos- sible for him to get it elsewhere. We hold that the studious representatives of the recognized fine arts are the ones who can raise photography. To have photographers alone speak to photog- raphers is stagnation ; and the reason why some clubs seem ever plodding in the easy low- down science side of the art and producing but few real art pictures is because their speakers have always been photographers, not artists. Our list of this year's speakers has numbered many local art students. Professor Charles Eliot Norton, Dr. E. R. O. von Mach, Dr. Den- man Ross, Mr. F. Holland Day, Professor Charles H. Moore are all life students of the recognized fine arts. The coming of such men to a club raises its ideas beyond what
it can possibly dream, and thus camera art is raised.
Of course city clubs can try this same policy. Artists are plenty in cities, and are com- plimented and honored in being asked to speak their ideas. For country clubs, where art stud- ents are rare, the task is more difficult, but can be followed more slowly. The university town has the greatest advantage, for clubs so located can draw as speakers from the university's edu- cated men.
This policy of " artist raising photography '* is to be followed next year here with a fuller and better program of lectures than ever be- fore, and we heartily recommend this new idea to all who may be so situated as to follow it.
H. W. Eliot, Jr., Cor. Sec.
BROOKLYN CAMERA CLUB.
776 Manhattan Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
THE July meeting was more largely attended than was expected fpr a midsummer meeting, giving evi- dence that the interest in photog- raphy had not waned with the cool weather. Mr. Juan C. Abel, of the Photographic Times, was elected to honorary membership, Mr. J. J. Tresidder, former assistant secretary was elected secretary upon the resignation of Mr. Geo. F. Orthel, and Mr. J. E. Foulks, Jr., was elected assistant secretary.
The excursion to Orchard Grove was an un- qualified success, every one attending same had an enjoyable time.
A number of prints of pictures taken on the excursion have been entered with the Print Committee in the Contest for the Silver and Bronze Medals offered by the Photographic Times, and the prizes offered by the Club.
These pictures will be judged by an eminent artist photographer, and awards will be made at next regular meeting.
John J. Tresidder, Secretary.
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In the report on the Lantern Slide Competi- tion in the June issue, a medal was awarded to David Archibald for ** Lightning " Slides. This should have been William Archibald as those who are acquainted with Mr. Archibald's splendid work in lightning photography are probably aware.
"Who is Cameron; what is he?" Some one of this name has been appointed as the American member of the International Jury for the Pho- tographic Section at the Paris Exposition. The other members include such well known names as Abney, Eder, Miethe, etc. ; but Cameron, who is he ? We are not informed as to whether it is a he or a she, and we certainly know none of that name in this country of sufficient promin- ence in photographic art or science to entitle him or her to a seat on the International Jury. Can any one enlighten us ?
From Robert Demachy's " Review of Pic- torial Photography" at the Paris Exposition, in the Amateur Photographer (England), we learn that the Camera Club, N. Y., followed by the most distinguished pictorial photographers of the U. S., decided to boycott the exhibition because the photographs were not to be hung in the Fine Arts Palace, but in the Photo- graphic Section. Consequently American pho- tography is represented by genre pictures from Baker's Art Gallery, a few pretty but over- retouched models by Steckel, enlarged snap- shots of the Eastman Co , and a few other pictures not worth the counting. Surely this is a case of cutting off the nose to spite the face, and it is to be deplored that the Camera Club. N. Y., and. the other " most distinguished pic- torial photographers" have given this poor reason for refusing to contribute. Our " most distinguished pictorial photographers" most decidedly do not outrank the pictorial workers
of England, France, or Austria, and they have seen the wisdom of exhibiting their work— and good work— "for the education of the public, which," to quote Demachy, "is absolutely ignor- ant as a whole, of the pictorial mov^ement of photography "
The government has honored the women photographers of this country by appointing Miss Frances B. Johnston, of Washington, as a delegate to the Photographic Congress, to be held in Paris, in connection with the Exposition. Miss Johnston will read a paper on the work of the women photographers of the United States, and, to supplement her paper has taken over a very complete collection of their pictures. Miss Johnston writes us on the eve of her departure: " The response from those my circular did reach was so generous and cordial that I feel that I have in the short space of three weeks gathered together a highly representative exhibit, and one which will not only do the American women proud but be a revelation both to the Europeans as well as the Americans who chance to see it." The follow- ing is taken from the Washington Evening Star of July 6:
While the advance in photography during late years has been a matter of general comment, the artistic strides which have l>een made with the improved appli- ances now at command and through the entrance into the fields of photography of persons who for art's sake alone are carrying out an extensive work can hardly be realized. A distinct feature of latter-day photographic progress has been the prominent and increasingly im- portant part played in elevating the science of pictorial reproduction to the plane of the truly beautiful.
To illustrate fully the wonderful ability of American women who have for the last five or ten years at the most, been students of the camera and its possibilities, and to startle the old world with a revelation of what the women of this country have accomplished in triumph over the remainder of the world, Miss Frances Benjamin Johnston, of this city, one of the most widely known of woman photographers, has succeeded in securing jj
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collection of pictures of incomparable beauty from her feminine colleagues, which she is taking to Paris, to be exhibited at the international photographic congress in the French capital as a feature of the great exposition now in progress.
Miss Johnston goes as a delegate to the congress. She has been invited to read a paper upon the photographic work of women in America, and it was in the prepara- tion of this article she conceived the idea of showing as well as telling of the exceptional work woman has accomplished. The congress will convene July 23. There will be present the unquestionable leaders of the profession and study of photography from all parts of the world. Miss Johnston is confident thfit the Ameri- can woman's exhibit will attract more widespread interest and admiration than the displays of any class of work from other countries.
Upon her return from Paris Miss Johnston will en- deavor to secure the permission of those represented in the collection to make an exhibit of the photogfraphs in this city (Washington). Being personally acquainted with a majority of her fellow workers, and having met with such expressive assurances of interest and esteem in making the collection, it is quite probable Washington may have a view of this truly interesting and marvelous group of pictures.
Washington should take great interest in the coHec- tion, for some of the finest specimens to be exhibited abroad are the work of capital city women. Miss Virginia M. Prall, of this city, has contributed a number of original and effective pictorial photographs which are gems in their line. Miss Emily Mew, also of this city, is represented in the Paris collection by several artistic portraits and head studies.
Miss Johnston rounds out the list of Washington ex- hibitors. She is undecided yet as to what class of work she will enter, but it is highly probable some of the in- teresting character-studies she secured during a recent trip to Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft shop at East Aurora, N. Y., may be the ones selected. Miss Johnston is already represented in Paris by about 500 photographs, including the Washington public school views and a like series from the Hampton, Va., Normal Institute.
Owing to the limited space of time in which she had to secure the pictures, Miss Johnston was consequently curtailed in her effort to obtain specimens from all the women photographers, and she was necessarily confined in her correspondence to only those of wider public fame. The collection, as it stands, however, is thor- oughly representative, and in it there is nothing but the very foremost evidence of highest photographic attain- ment.
Mrs. Gertrude K&sebier, of New York, perhaps the most famous of woman photographers, has a fine collec- tion of different varieties of studies, while some of the other prominent women represented are Miss Rose Clark, of Buffalo. Miss Eva L. Watson and Miss Matilda Weil, of Philadelphia, Miss Ben Yusuf, of New York, Miss Eddy, of Providence, R. I.; Miss Van Buren, of Detroit, Miss Emma J. Farnsworth, of Albany, Mrs. Myra Wiggins, of Salem, Ore.; Miss Elton, of Cleveland,
Ohio, and Miss Walbom, of Akron, in the same State; Mrs. N. Gray Bartlett, of Chicago, Mrs. Sears, Miss Alice Austin and Mrs. Addie K. Robinson, of Boston, the Misses Allen, of Deerneld, Mass., and the Misses Selby, of New York, Mrs. C. B. W. Ward, Miss E. V. Clarkson, Miss E. J. Fitz, Miss M. E. Martin, Miss E. A. Slade, Mrs. J. O. Wright, Miss Needles, the Misses Allen, Miss Constance Parsons, Miss Beatrice Tonneson, Nancy Mann Waddell, Miss Floride Green, Mrs. E. F. Wade, Mrs. Lounsbery, Mrs. Chas. Shoffer. Miss Mary Derous, Mrs. M. M. Russell, Miss A. B. Sniff, Miss E. H. Huggins, Mrs. M O. Wright, Mrs. Paschal. Mrs. V. G. Sharp, Miss Pillsbury.
THE CONVENTION.
BY WARD MIIIR.
There's a very great occurrence, and it happens once a year— It's a thing you may have read of in the papers — An occasion upon which quite the staidest folk, I hear, (E'en photographers !) insist on cutting capers: And it's called the Convention: The Annual Convention: What a sight for gods and men, It defies the boldest pen
To wiite the whole of what deserves a mention In the quite seraphic, on-the-Maffick, laugh-and- chaff-ic, stop the traffic, Pho-to-graphic Annual Convention !
People come from every country, between China and the States, And reporters always say in every journal That the odd fact isn't that they all are armed with films or plates But that they're all so boundlessly fraternal. At the wonderful Convention, The Annual Convention, etc.
And as everyone's invited, and all kinds of folk attend.
There are amateurs, professionals, and dealers. And even a few editors who cease their foes to rend (For Convention trips are wonderful wound healers); They're friends at the Convention, The Annual Convention, etc.
The glossy P.O.P.-ite and the gum-bichromate man
Lie down together like the lamb and lion. For the smoke-room of ** head-quarters " and a drop of whisky can Give some forestate of the lasting peace of Zion Wh^n you're at the Convention, The Annual Convention, etc.
The days are spent in rambles— quite idyllic, so I'm told—
And feasting after that, and making merry; And sometimes there are lectures; but the speakers must be bold. For a lecture after dinner seems — well, very Like a mere Convention, An Annual Convention, etc.
— The Photogram,
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Pyrocatechin and an Opinion by /Ir. L. F. Hammer.
—We take pleasure in reproducing a letter from the veteran plate-maker, Mr. L. F. Hammer, for we think that the opinion of the manufacturer of the leading dry plate in this country in reference to the new developer, pyrocatechin, will be of general interest. The latter is as follows :
•• By to-day's express I am sending you ihree lantern slide positives for your inspection, and I wish you would let me know what you think of them . The reason I send them to you is that they are developed with two differ- ent kinds of developer, with eikonogen and hydrochinone combined, and with pyrocatechin. I gave the pyro- catechin developer a good test, and in my opinion it will work very nicely, especially with amateurs, as I can de- velop a plate in four to six minutes and it takes three or four times as long with any other developer, and when the amateur will get familiar with the use of this de- veloper, he will not need to stand in the dark room for two or three hours developing a batch of plates. You will notice that there is no difference in the color of the positive sent you. This is the principal reason why I am sending them to you, so that you can see what can be done with pyrocatechin. Amateurs, I believe, have an idea that they must stand over the developer a long time, which is not necessary with pyrocatechin when properly compounded. Your truly,
L. F. Hammer.
OrtbOAtigmatIc Lenses.— We have received so many inquiries from amateurs asking what is meant by an '* orthostigmatic " lens that we consider the matter of general interest.
As far as the name itself is concerned, we have reason to believe that it is simply a conventional name by which the Steinheil factory has decided to designate an im- proved type of double anastigmat. The orthostigmatic lens is also a step in advance in the type of rapid con- vertible lenses.
The orthostigmatic lens has a free working aperture of F. 0:3 which is larger than ihat of any other, and it makes it especially well adapted for studio work, thus dispensing with the old style heavy and cumbersome portrait lenses. For all work in the studio and in the field the F. 6:3 stop is employed, no matter what the duration of the exposure may be according to the condi- tions of light.
The lens can be converted into a rapid anastigmat. a rapid wide angle, a rapid landscape lens, the latter al- lowing of half the rapidity and twice the focal length of
the original. The following may be enumerated as the principal uses of the orthostigmatic lenses :
Their great rapidity renders them equally adapted for portraits and groups in the studio, and for shortest in- stantaneous exposures out doors, even in dull weather.
Owing to their wide angular subtense these lenses may be used for all kinds of landscape, architectural, and in- terior photography.
Their superior definition and flatness of field, the results of comprehensive optical correction, render the ortho- stigmatic lenses, when suitably stopped down, well adapted for enlargements as well as copying.
Tne orthostigmatic lenses have a double advantage over the wide angle aplanars hitherto used for copying, inasmuch as by their increased rapidity, the exposure becomes considerably shortened, also owing to their wide angular subtense, lenses of much shorter focus can be used, which, besides being proportionately cheaper, requires a shorter camera extension.
The Steinheil people furnish, when so desired, a special set of diaphragms for photo engraving, particularly de- sirable for the three-color work.
Bromide Paper for Amateur's Use.— It is generally believed that the preparation of bromide paper involves great diflBculties, and in consequence is practically impossible for the amateur. However, these diflBculties are not insurmountable, and with careful and clean operation successful results may be obtained. Besides, the paper thus prepared presents certain advantages over the paper of commerce, for by modifying the com- position of the emulsion, the final tone may be varied, and shades from red to sepia and black may be obtained without varying the development. As the same emul- sion may be used to give these different tones, one may prepare as much of each color as is necessary. When, for instance, the required amount of paper of black tone has been prepared, the same emulsion may be utilized to obtain other shades by the simple addition 01 certain chemicals. Mr. Thorne Baker gives the following pro- cess which he has used with success : Two grammes of Nelson's gelatine No. i are swelled in 28 c.c. water; it is more convenient to do this in a graduated measure placed in a cylindrical vessel of larger dimensions. When the gelatine has absolved all the water, it is melted by slightly heating the water in the outer vessel, which is filled to three-quarters the height of the graduate. When the gelatine is melted, 1.2 grammes bromide of ammonium are added, and the mixture introduced into a flask previously rinsed with distilled
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Notes and News
379
water, then a solution of 1.7 grammes in 28c.c. water is added, this latter operation being carried out in the dark-room. The mixture should be well agitated. The emulsion is then heated to 65 deg. C. for ten minutes, then filtered through four layers of fine muslin; it is thus filtered three or four times and then cooled. When completely cool, the emulsion.is cut into small pieces and placed upon canvas, the four corners of which are then brought together and the emulsion forced through the canvas. After this operation it should be carefully washed with distilled water, pre- ferably in a funnel suitably arranged for the purpose. The emulsion is then remelted in a porcelain dish placed in a larger vessel containing hot water. To sensitize the paper, it is floated for three minutes upon the emulsion, drained, and dried flat upon blotting paper. The paper thus prepared gives black tones. To obtain brown tones, only i gramme of bromide of ammonium is taken, to which is added 0.2 gramme iodide of potassium. The sensitiveness of the paper varies according to the quantity of haloid salts present. For development a dilute bath of hydrochinon, alone or in combination with metol, may be used.— Sc/en//fic American.
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SALON, 1900, (elshth year),
will be held at the Dudley Gallery (Egyptian Hall), Pic- cadilly, London, W., England, from September 21st to November 3rd, 1900.
The aim of the Committee is to exhibit only that class of work in Pictorial Photography in which there is distinct evidence of personal artistic feeling and execu- tion.
Careful consideration will be given to all pictures entered for exhibition, and a selection of works of pic- torial merit made by the Committee. Pictures which have already been publicly exhibited in London will not be accepted. Pictures sent for exhibition to any other exhibition open in London at the same period are liable also to be disqualified.
No awards are offered, and no charge is made to Exhibitors.
Arrangements will be made for the sale of pictures, if desired, and a commission of 15 per cent, will be charged on sales effected.
Conditions of Entry, Etc. I. Each picture must be separately framed^ and each frame must bear on the back, name of exhibitor,
Entered in ''Study of a Child' Competition.
Mrs. Claud Gatch.
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The Editor's Table
38'
number and title of picture, and price, if offered for sale, corresponding to the particulars on the entry form.
2. Pictures will be received at the Dudley Gallery only, on Monday, September loth, from lo a.m. to
6 P.M.
3. They must be delivered, carriage paid, accom- panied by I heir Enlry Form^ and wilhoul packing or wrappers of any klndy either personally or through an agent.
4. Messrs. William Whiteley, Ltd , of Westboume Grove, will undertake to receive, deliver, and return exhibits. Packages from the country and abroad must be delivered at Messrs. Whiteley 's, carriage paid, and ci// packages must be addressed to Mr. Moore, manager of Messrs. Whiteley 's Shipping Department, 151 Queens Road, Bayswater, W., and must be delivered nol later than Thursday, September 6th, accompanied by their Entry Form, and should be labelled outside •* For the Photogfraphic Salon."
5. Due notification will be sent of pictures which are not accepted.
6. At the close of the exhibition, all exhibits must be removed on Saturday, November 3rd, between the hours of 8 P.M. and 10 p.m. If not so removed they will be warehoused at Messrs. Whiteley's, Ltd., at the expense of the owners.
The Committee particularly wish to assure intending exhibitors that every care will be taken of frames sent for exhibition, but they cannot accept responsibility for damage.
Reginald Craigie, Hon. Sec.
Mitchell's •• Celeritas " Developing Powders is the
name of a new developer just placed on the market by The Standard Chemical Company, Limited, No. 1016 Cherry Street, Philadelphia. It is stated to be a new and original combination of Metol and Hydrokinone which works surely, safely, and rapidly, g^ves good density with exquisite detail, and for prints on Velox paper, yields rich velvety blacks and clean whites. The makers claim that it is an ** ideal" developer for hand camera work with films, etc., as it works very rapidly and will not fog. Samples can be obtained by sending two two cent stamps to the manufacturers.
T/\e eDITOR'S Tablg.
Nature's Calendar, by Ernest Ingersoll, with twelve illustrations from original photographs, by Clarence Lown.
Mr. Ingersoll has here produced a book which is in- tended to serve as a practical guide to nature's happen- ings day by day amongst the lower orders of life. The novelty of its arrangement is such that the student ol nature can follow Mr. IngersolFs thoughts and along- side jot down his own observations and reasonings. Space is left for every day of the year. The whole is divided into months, at the end of each chapter being a list of the mammals, birds, insects, fishes, reptiles, to be met with during that month. For every month Mr. Clarence Lown has contributed a photograph of nature as she is during that month, and while these are not ex- traordinary they are good mechanical pieces of work, and fill their purpose. More we can hardly say about Mr. Lown's pictures in this volume Every photographer of nature, and the number is increasing daily, should possess himself of this work as Mr. IngersoU's calendar will tell him much that he needs to know and bring him into better acquaintanceship wiih nature than years of
aimless rambling with his camera. I1.50. Harper & Brothers, publishers. New York and London.
Pliotograpliic Instruction Text, by Geo. H. Paltridge. Mr. Paltridge, who is instructor in photography at the Lewis Institute, Chicago, has published under this title the results of his instruction work before numerous classes and individual students. His frequent contact with beginners has given him a knowledge of their needs and he has worked out, from his rich experience, the systematic course given in this book. Mr. Paltridge appears to have avoided the beaten paths of photo- graphic text books He does not commence by telling the student about *' light" and its action on various matters or why it acts, but strikes right in on the choice of cameras and outfit, and how to use the same. After that follow exercises in development and exposure under dif- ferent conditions, and so on through the various pro- cesses of printing, enlarging, lantern slide-making, etc. It is an excellent work, and we fully recommend it to the beginner in search of a book that will really teach. $T.oo. The Photo-Text Press, publishers, Chicago.
Digitized by
382
The Editor's Table
I August
Chemlsches Worterbuch, edited by Prof. Dr Carl Rothe.
A chemical dictionary for photographers, phar- maceutists, doctors, teachers, and others. A reference book intended for those who have not the time to take up the study of chemical com- binations, but still have need of certain data concerning the same. The commercial name of every known compound is given— its technical name, chemical symbol, characteristic properties, solubility, and average price. Now that we have the book, we are at a loss to understand how we did without it before.
Cloth, $1.50 (postage extra). Verlag der Deutschen Photographen-Zeitung (K. Schwier), Weimar, Germany.
<• Die Photosraphie in Hocligeblrg," by Emile Terschak.
One of the best books of its kind published. The author goes very fully into the subject of mountain photography, and the illustrations are numerous and perfect. The book is written in the nature of a description of a tour through the valley up to the mountain top, through clouds and fog. The various chapters deal with "Equip, ment," "Valley Exposures," "Mountain Groups from the Valley, and from intermediate heights," " Mountain Groups from above," '* Clouds," ** Light- ing," •* Changes in Temperature," ** Winter Exposures," etc. The illustrations are accompanied by full particu- lars as to exposures, plates used, diaphragm opening, lens, and time of day.
Cloth, 75 cts. (postage extra). Gustav Schmidt, pub- lisher, Berlin, Germany.
i PELICAN. DOWNY STAGE. Copyrtg.t, iqoo^ by D. Af>pieton fr» Co.
From Bird Studies with a Camera,
Tlie Practice of Typography, a Treatise on the Pro- cesses of Type.Malcing, the Point System, the Names, Sizes, Styles, and Prices of Piain Printing Types, by Theodore Low De Vinne. 403 pp. New York : The Century Co. Those who remember the paper on the ** Origination of Printing Types by Photographic Methods " published some months ago, wherein Mr. Thomas Bolas drew the
OANNET ON NE«T. TWO NESTS IN FOREGROUND. Co/fyri^kt, iqoo^ by D. Appleton &* Co.
From Bird Studies with a Camera,
Digitized by
igoo]
Tlfie Editor's Table
383
KITTIWARCS AND YOUNO ON NESTS. FROM THC CRATE.
From Bird Studies with a Camera,
Co/yrtght^ IQCO^ by D. Apphton b* Co.
attention of amateurs to the origination of printing types as a photographic hobby, will welcome the interesting volume announced above. Mr. De Vinne has a perfect knowledge of his subject, and writes with that directness and simplicity which we expect in so skilled a master of typography. We know of no better or more fascinating introduction to the mysteries of the printer's types, their origrin and development. The volimie itself is a delight- ful bit of bookmaking, and displays by abundant and attractive examples the printing types of which it treats, from the early English bodies to the McFarland and Century faces of to-day.— J. A. T.
Joel Chandler Harris will furnish the introduction to "Down South," a book of reproductions of Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr.*s beautiful photographs of pictures of negro life, which will be published early in the fall. Mr. Eickemeyer, who is a member of the Camera Club, and has won enviable fame with his artistic photography, has also contributed a series of remarkable pictures of *• truly children " to make an attractive book called " In and Out of the Nursery." The verses and songs by Eva Eickemeyer Rowland are merry and rollicking, and written about the real children in the pictures, for
children and lovers of children. Both books are to be beautiful in make-up, and will come from the publishing house of R. H. Russell. New York.
Bird Studies with a Camera, by Frank M. Chapman. This is a book which will interest all those who go shooting birds or wild animals —with the camera and not the shot-gun. Its value to the photographer lies in the clear descriptions Mr. Chapman gives of his methods and the apparatus he employs. The reproductions, three of which we give here, of his pictures speak well for his skill and form an excellent object-lesson. $1.75- D. Appleton & Co., publishers, New York.
Instruction in Photography, by SirW. deW. Abney, K.C.B , F.R.S , etc.
This is the tenth and latest edition of this well-known text book which has been revised and enlarged by the author to conform to present needs and new methods. The more important additions comprise Chapters on "Photo-block Work," and ** Three-color Printing."
The book is published in this country by J. B. Lippin- cott Company of Philadelphia, Pa. ^2.50.
Digitized by
THE 'PHOTOGRAPHIC TOiES RECORD
Of Competitions Open to Photosfraphers*
NAME
Photographic Thncs
Ladles' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal
Indianapolis Press ^slie's Weekly Leslie's Weekly
ADDRESS
New York
Philadelphia, Pa.
Philadelphia, Pa.
SUBJECT
Book Illus- tration
Attractive
Outdoor
Scenes in the
Country
City Back Yards
PRIZES
$175.00 Cash and 5 Medals
CLOSING DATE
Sept. 1, 1900
RESTRICTIONS
REMARKS
None
|
1 at $150.00 i |
||
|
1 |
at |
100.00 |
|
1 |
75.00 |
|
|
1 |
60.00 |
|
|
1 |
25.00 |
|
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0 |
10.00 |
|
|
1 |
f5U.uO |
|
|
1 |
85.00 |
|
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1 |
10.00 |
Leslie's Weekly
Indianapolis, Jnd.
New York, N. Y.
New York
New York.
{ ChaugedBU weekly
I Recent Cur- rent Events
I Paris I Exposition
Ncgfro Life, Summer Re- sorts, Indian Life, etc. etc.
Patent Record Mail and Express IlL Buffalo Express
The American Boy
Baltimore. Md.
New York, N. Y.
Buffalo. N. Y.
$5.00, $a.00 and $t.00
$5.00 Cash $20.00
$10 00 Each Class
November 1, 1900
October 1, 1900
Bi-weekly
Weekly
November 1
See Journal for April
See Journal
Must use Coupon Amateurs only
Amateurs No Copyngrht Pictures
See January Number
Address Art Bureau
Address An Bureau
See Paper
$1 paid for each photograph used
Weekly
See Paper
See Paper
$3 paid for each I photograph used
Unique Sub- jects and Re- cent Current Events
General
$5.00. $8.00 and $2.00
$5.00
15th of each month
Cash
Detroit, Mich.
No Set Sub- ject
The Camera Western Camera Notes
Philadelphia, Pa.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Photo Beacon
Photo Beacon Cottage and Castle Outdoor Life
Evening Telegram Photo-American
Chicaifo, Chicago,
\\\r
New York
Denver, Colo.
Crying
and
Laughing
Rabies
Marines Sea or Lake
$9S.OO
$5.00 $2.50
Weekly
Annual
Monthly
Amateurs
I Amateurs
I No Copyright Pictures
See Paper Subscribers* only
August 25, 1900
New York,
N.Y.
Flower Pictures
•*At Home'' Portraiture
General
Summer Re- son Pictures.
Materials Books Books
$6.00 Cash
July 81
1,000 Grain Silver Medal
$5.00
August 81, 1900
15th of each month
^'
Weekly
Amateurs only
I Subscribers and Ama- I tcurs only. See Rules.
See Rules. I See Rules
I Amateurs only
Use Coupon
Amateurs only See Paper
See Paper
No Pictures Re- turned
Photographs pub- lished and paid for I liberally
$1. paid for each phoic^japh used
See Paper
I Held Monthly I Held Monthly I Held Monthly
I See Rules
Held Monthly See Magazine
No Pictures Re- turned
Photo- American Pearson's Magadne Youth's Companion Harmsworth Maga^e
J. B. Williams Co
Twentieth Century Oub
New York
New York
New York.
N.Y.
Portraits
Landscapes
oeneral
Comical
Caricatures
o . w I Figure Work Boston, Mass .,^a jrcneral
London, Eng.
and general
General
I
Figures of Glastonbury Jersey Cows I Conn. or ^ilkmaids I
Books and Materials
Books and Matenals
TatflUu
lat 60
lat 25
5at 10
Silver Vase «0 Cash Prizes
Tat $500
lat 100
lat 25
20 at 5
1 at $100 lat 40 lat 15 Sat 10 Sat 5
September 1 1900
September 8, 1900
Boston, Mass
Disfigure- ment Dy Ad vertisements
$<5
September 80. 1900
October 1, 1900
October 1 1900
Coupon must be attached
Coupon must be attached
Amateurs only .1 mons. subs, necessary
Amateurs only
See Magazine
See Magazine
No Pictures Re- turned See Magazine
Send for Circular
None
None
Address Editor
Address Photo department
Refers to i Send to Club,
Mass. Highways 2 Ashburton
only Place, Boston
All publications holding competitions open to photographers are invited to send in full particulars of same for insertion in above Record, as it is desired to make it as complete as possible.
Digitized by
SEPTEMBER, iboo.
Number 9*
SINGLE COPIES, 35 CBh
fllkH PUUHUiiimiii'
T
^H
c<y
An-Illustr\ted 'Aonthly-Aagazine devoted-to-the* interests-of-
ARTISTICerSCIENTIFIC^
^ Fhotografhy
Wi.
AM 44^1
THE-PHOTOGRAPHIC-TIMES-PUBLISHING- ASSOCIATION^60^AWD^62-^EASM1?^SL^NEW^YQRK
UttHtt
•-'-■'""
Digitized by
CONTENTS
PAGB
Frontispiece— By Daniel Gay.
Fog and Stains in Negatives—By Fayette J. Clute — Illustrated 385
** My Daughter**— By Prescott Adamson — Illustra- tion 387
Illustration— By R. Demachy 388
Illustration— 1. H. McCorkle 389
** Old New Orleans **— By Henry C. Delery— Illus- trated 390
Oyster Boats — By C. Delery— Illustration 391
** Kathleen *' — By George Hankins — Illustration. ... 392
The Oaks— Duelling Ground— By H. C. Delery— Illustration 393
Type of Creole Negro— By H. C. Delery— Illus- tration 393
Cotton — Steamship Landing— By H. C. Delery — Il- lustration 394
Entrance to Spanish Fort— By H. C. Delery — Illus- tration 395
On Lake Pontchartrain— By H. C. Delery— Illustra- tion 396
Lantern Slide Making for Beginners — By ** Prim- rose Hill.** 396
Still Life Study— By John Carpenter— Illustration. . 397
A Home-Made Camera Stand at a Cost of Five Cents —By Edgar Z. Hebberd— Illustrated 398
** Round the Dark Country When the Sun is Set.**— By Geo. W. Norris — Illustration 399
An Enquiry into the Early History of Photography 400
Crypt at Lacock Abbey used by Talbot as a Dark Room — Illustration 400
Chancel and Lady Chapel of Lacock Church (to be Restored) — Illustration 400
Lacock Abbey from the Grounds, from an Early Calotype — Illustration 401
Lacock Abbey — The Stable Yard, from an Early Calotype — Illustration 401
Illustration — By Robert Demachy 402
The End of the Koad — By Guy Steams — Illustration 403
Simole Manipulation of Developing Papers — By Maxmillian Toch 404
On the Banks of the Charles River— By J. H. Mc- Corkle—Illustration 404
The P. A. of A^Convention, Milwaukee, 1900 405
Sound Sense and Solid Business 406
A Study — By Geo. Hankins — Illustration - 408
Who Can Tell What a Baby Thinks— By W. S. Clow
— Illustration 408
A Mexican Beggar Girl— By W. J, Piatt— Illustra- tion 409
A Friendly Criticism of the Genre Photographs at
Milwaukee— By C. H. Staunton 409
A Fisherman— By Ph. von Schoeller— Illustration. . 410
A Story— By David A. Talma(^e 411
Marshland— By Geo.Tingley — Illustration 41a
Illustration— By H. A. Beasley 413
A Rainy Day in Spring — By J. C. S. Mummery —
Illustration 414
Harvard Camera Club 416
Brookljm Camera Club 416
New Home and Enlarged Headquarters for the Old- est Photographic House in America 417
In 1885— Illustration 417
Old Style Equipment— Illustration 417
New Style Equipment in 1883 418
A Solographer, 1900 418
Our Monthly Digest 418
Illustration — By J. H. McCorkle : . . . 419
The Glow of the Setting Sun— Illustration— By
T. Whitall Nicholson 421
A Woodland Stream— By W. J. Mullfns — Illustration 422
Eventide — By Walter Bertling — Illustration 423
Illustration— By John G. Bullock 431
Painters who have Influenced Me — By Mr. J. Craig
Annan 426
Leafless Woods— By W. J. Mullins — Illustration. . . 427
Illustration— By Walter Bertling 428
Intensification or Redevelopment— By Henry P.
Raess 429
Editorial Notes . . 431
Photographic Times Record. .... * 432
A RADICAL DEPARTURE. ALL PAPERS
MANUFACTURED BY
THE DEFENDER PHOTO. SUPPLY CO.
Ce.n NOW be obte^ined in lOc. PACKAGES.
Sizes ^yixbVi to 8x10.
This inclvides DISCO MATTE >« AND >< THEIR >« ARGO >< DEVELOPING >< PAPER. n< ASK YOUR DEALER FOR THE IOC. PACKAGE.
The Scovill & Adams Co. of Ne^v York»
^TRADE AGENTS.
3 & 5 West 19tK St., New York. Cable Building, Chicago. Ills.
Digitized by
THE, SMOKL.R.
FOG AND STAINS IN NEGATIVES
THE NEW YORKjo
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
AiTOR, LCNOX AftO
THE amount of trouble caused by these two enemies of the photog- rapher can be judged by the amovint of space devoted to various methods of combating them in the journals craft. The rarity with which these methods are employed is bl am able not so much to the lack of value in the methods them- selves as to a want of a thorough understanding of the proper treatment to be selected in treat- ing the many differ- ent forms of defective negatives.
Take for example a thin, overtimed negative, with a thin veiling or fog over its entire surface. The novice will no doubt treat it as he finds suggested by some waiter who has neglected to mention that the fog should be first removed should it be present, and intensifies the negative with the result that the fog is made denser and the negative is worse than before. Another negative, this time an undertimed one, prints slow on account of general fog. This is treated to a reducer with the result that though print-
AL de h'ior
ing much quicker, the fog which w^as so easily removed has left the negative in a condition to print much harder and with poorer results than before even though the reducing process was so conducted as to do no damage to the finer detail in the shadows, a thing that is quite hard to do. The removal of a yellow stain due to prolonged development, insufficient sulphite, or both, will often improve the printing qualities of a negative that gives prints of a too contrasty nature, but a slight veiling or fog is quite often an advantage instead of a detriment in the case of undetermined negatives of subjects contain- ing much contrast. The removal of the nega- tive from the fixing bath and exposing it to the light for a short time just before fixation is completed has been recommended as a method of inducing fog for the purpose of improving the print- ing qualities of such negatives, but I can hardly see how such a method could result in uniform improve- ment over the entire surface of the negative so long as fixing baths have the habit of w^orking from the edge of the negative towards the center. -. ^j ^^ ^^^ .
Copyright, 1900, by The Scovill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y. Post Office.
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386
Fog and Stains in Negatives
I September
Fog induced in this manner might also be quite difficult to remove should the results be other than satisfactory, and for this reason I would only advise that any slight veiling that may make its appearance during prolonged develop- ment of an undertimed plate be ignored, particularly should the subject be one contain- ing violent contrasts that are required to be made more harmonizing.
Another form of fog that I would most par- ticularly warn the worker against is that formed by the use of an unsafe developing light when the plate is held up to the light quite often and quite close, causing fog on that side of the emulsion next to the glass. There is little ex- cuse for allowing this species of fog to appear, and the difficulty, if not utter impossibility of its removal, should demand the exercise of the small amount of care necessary to avoid it. The glass side should never be exposed to the light except in the case of slow plates or an entirely safe light, and when we realize that no light is entirely safe, the reason for exposing our plate as little as possible will be understood. Soaking a plate in the developer and exposing it while wet has been recommended as a method of shortening the required exposure, and if there is any foundation for such a claim it can easily be seen how much more sensitive the glass side of our partially developed negative must be than the film side, and how liable we are to obtain fog in those parts of our negative that we most particularly wish free from any veil. To remove any veiling or fog that lies on that side of the emulsion next the glass all the finer detail that the negative contains must be sacri- ficed. Lying as it does on the surface of the film, any reducer will destroy it before it can get through the film to attach the fog below.
Before we can intelligently employ the various formulae placed at our disposal it is necessary to understand the various kinds of fog and stain that we have to deal with. Plain silver fog requires different treatment from color or dichroic fog, while chemical fog or stains re- quire still another remedy. For this reason any formulae put forward as capable of remov- ing fog is bound to fail in some cases. The most of these formulse are translated from the foreign journals and the necessary detail being omitted, failure results, and a distrust of similar methods is in that way encouraged. A case in point though the error was in the formulae itself and not in the brevity of the directions, was the formulae that went the rounds of
the journals a few years ago. The formulae called for bromide, bromide of soda, and water. A friend of mine had any amount of trouble with this. He worked it out that so many grains of bromide of potassium gave him so much bromide with a certain amount of acid to neutralize the potash, but yet it failed to work. Later some one pointed out that bromine was the chemical wanted, and the thing was made clear.
Plain silver fog is perhaps the most common and no doubt the easiest to remove. A safe dark room and developing light will reduce this danger, and careful examination of the camera for leaks and the interior of the lens mount for places from which the black varnish has dis- appeared,, will, if found and remedied, prevent further trouble.
Where the fog is only slight, several hours in the ordinary acid fixing bath will generally suffice to remove it. The negative should be withdrawn and exposed to the air for a few- minutes occasionally as the presence of oxygen causes the silver to be dissolved by the hypo. vSlight stains will also succumb to this treatment, but the exposure to the air is not necessary in this case.
Should the fog be more pronounced, recourse should be had to either Belitzki's green reducer:
Water 7 ounces
Potassium ferrous oxalate 2\ drachms
Sodium sulphite (crys.) 2 drachms
Oxalic acid (about) 35 grains
Hyposulphite if oz. avd.
or to Farmer's reducer :
Saturated solution of ferridcyan-
ide of potassium i part
Twenty per cent, solution of hy- posulphite of soda 10 parts
The former reduces the negative fairly evenly while Farmer's reducer is inclined to make the negative harder, making it more suitable for negatives in which it is desired to increase the contrasts. An undertimed nega- tive of a subject containing great contrast should not be treated to either of these solu- tions as any fog that may be present is more likely to prove an advantage than otherwise, excepting as it increases the time required in printing. A transparency made from such a negative, if timed correctly and developed with care, will give us the means of making a dupli- cate negative which will print quickly and with all detail that the original contains, but gradua- tion will be lacking at either one or the other end of the scale.
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Fog and Stains in Negatives
387
Returning to the use of our reducers, should the use of either result in a yellow stain as they are inclined to do, more particularly when em- ployed locally, it can be easily removed by an acid alum bath, as it is simply a basic iron salt left in the film. Spots of a similar nature
and afterwards well washed before it is allowed to dry.
For more pronounced fog a solution of potassium cyanide containing a little iodine is more serviceable. Containing as it does cyanide of iodine, the fumes of which are highly poison-
MY DAUGHTER.'
Prescott A damson.
caused by iron rust in the fixing bath or wash- ing tank can be removed by the same acid alum treatment. The following is a good formulae:
Alum 5 parts.
Hydrochloric acid i part.
Water 100 parts.
Perhaps it is not out of place here to give a word of caution concerning the use of our new reducer — persulphate of ammonia. It should be used fresh each time, it is cheap enough, and if we wish to avoid a stain that is hard to remove it must not be used too often. If any great amount of reduction is secured the negative should be treated with the ordinary fixing bath
ous, great care should be used in employing it. It should never be used except in the open air, and even then care should be used to avoid in- halation of the fumes.
Color or dichroic fog is caused by the action of the oxidation products of organic developers upon the reduced silver. This must be treated differently as our reducers have little if any effect upon it. The best method of treating this species of fog is to employ free bromine. The following formula will answer :
Liquid Bromine 3 parts.
Bromide of Potassium (or Soda) 10 parts.
Water 100 parts.
Digitized by
388
Fog and Stains in Negatives
[September
R. Demacky.
The negative should be first placed in clean water to soften the film slightly and then placed in the bromine solution. In a few min- utes the gelatine begins to bleach, becoming whiter as the reduced silver changes to silver bromide. About five or ten minutes are re- quired, but it is better to continue the bleaching for a few minutes longer, rocking the dish in the meanwhile. Should the bleaching proceed slowly from thickness of the filnl, length of time since negative was developed, or in account of the rapid exhaustion of the solution in the open air, where it should always be used on ac- count of its unpleasant fumes; it will be ad- visable to renew the -solution once or twice until the desired results are obtained. If the negative is free from color as well as bleached thoroughly it is next washed for five or ten minutes and ex- posed to the air for the same length of time to allow the last trace of bromine to evaporate, as it would be injurious to the subsequent opera- tions. It is even advisable to allow the negative to dry thoroughly. It is then developed anew. Amidol is best adapted to this. The following formula is recommended :
Water 5 ozs.
Sulphite Soda 200 grains.
Amidol 20 grains.
Reduction goes on slowly, the film changing from red to brown and then to black through a number of tones according to the nature of the fog and the gelatine. Allow the negative to re- main five or ten minutes after it looks black from the glass side or there will be danger of having a negative when dry that shows blue, green, or red by transmitted light and be as difficult to print from as before the treatment.
Over development gives no bad results as the half tones and detail do not suffer in the least. Finally wash for about two hours in running water.
This treatment will also remove pyro or other developer stains but in case of light fog, it is necessary to place the negative after bromizing for from thirty seconds to two minutes in a weak solution of ammonia or a two per cent fixing solution. Action goes on rapidly and must be interrupted at the moment when the milky edge of the plate where it was protected by the plateholder begins to get clear. If not
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Fog and Stains in Negatives
389
the fine detail in the shadows will be destroyed. Finally wash and develop as before.
Negatives that have been intensified by any of the various mercuric methods will often turn yellow after a time, and it is then desirable to reblacken them. This can be done by employ- ing a weak solution of sulphydrate of ammonia which should also be used only in the open air. Yellow fog, or more properly, yellow stain caused by the lack of sulphite in the pyro de- veloper can be easily removed by immersing the plate in the following :
Thiocarbamin 30 grains.
Citric Acid 40 grains.
Chrome Alum 20 grains.
Water 4 ounces.
This may be used repeatedly until exhausted; allow the negative to remain in the solution as long as required. Drying stains will sometimes give way to this treatment.
In using the reducers we have mentioned, it may sometimes happen that they are allowed to act for too long a time with the result that our negative is too thin, and we fear that intensifica- tion with mercury may prove insufficient. Mer- curic iodide should be employed in such cases. Dissolve one drachm of mercuric chloride in seven ounces of water, and three drachms of iodide of potassium in three ounces of water, and pour the latter into the mercury solution till the red precipitate formed is completely dis-
solved; dilute with water before using. The negative which has been reduced too much or even one that has fallen a little short of the pro- per density through insufficient intensification is placed dry into this solution, well rocked, and watched closely to see that the density does not increase to too great an extent. When the right stage has been reached the negative is washed in two or three changes of water, and then placed in a twenty per cent, solution of sodium sulphite which changes its color from a dirty mottled, yellowish brown to a uniform gray tone and also renders the image permanent.
In conclusion, I would like to say that failure in working any of these processes should not deter one from trying the others, or any other they may find mentioned in the journals. They often prove a valuable power in the photogra- pher's hands, if he has made himself familiar with their use by trying them on a few waste negatives. Some of the chemical reactions in- volved are a trifle complex and different workers find them to work a little difi^erent in individual hands. One of the formulae that I have had the best of success with has proven entirely a failure in the hands of a friend in another city although much correspondence has been devoted to it. There seems to be some form of personal equa- tion that influences the results just as there is in developing formulae. One worker fails with what another finds to give the best of results.
Copyrighted, iqoo, by A //. McCorkie.
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''Old New Orleans"
I September
TO write the story of New Orleans one must needs encroach upon the his- tories of three great nations. To chivalrous France belonged the arduous task of colonization, shap- ing her destinies and ruling her at an uncertain period, fraught with perils and disaster. Then, despotic Spain acquired possession of her domains, and with military force brought an unwilling and indignant populace into submis- sion, to rule them for a lapse of some thirty- four years, a short period it is true, but never- theless a sufficient time for that kingdom to leave some ineffaceable traces of her reign. It was only at the beginning of the present cent- ury that the city was purchased by the United States and rapidly established on a firm com- mercial basis, and given that vim and energy which is characteristic only of the great Amer- ican Republic.
Settled at a remote period, before the country was united together as a nation, when adven- turers and fortune hunters from the shores of the kingdoms which fostered her came within her borders, seeking for gold and riches, and often finding but a grave, atone time the capital of that vast province of Louisiana, which in- cluded the larger portion of the country lying between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, and subsequently the scene of many
stirring and important events. New Orleans of to-day is pre-eminently interesting among the cities of the New World, from the cosmopolitan character of its population, their various lan- guages, tastes, customs, the picturesqueness of its older sections, with its traditions and legends, the haunts of the artist, and whose thorough- fares have furnished the theme for many a novelist's pen, its historical buildings and famed battlefields.
New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean Baptiste Lemoyne de Bienville, a French Cana- dian. Sailing along the shores of Lake Pont- chartrain, one of the many arms of the Gulf of Mexico, Bienville discovered a small stream, now called Bayou St. Joh;i, and entering, ascended to its source. The land between this Bayou and the Mississippi River, was selected as the site, and with fifty soldiers, Bienville began to clear the ground of its primitive growth and laid the foundation for the city. As originally planned, it comprised eleven squares frontage on the river, and extended five squares back into the swamp. ' Later, the whole city was surrounded by a large ditch, or moat, fenced with sharp stakes wedged close together. With the advent of the Spaniards, forts were erected as a protec- tion, two on the river front and three in the rear, making the city a veritable fortress.
But, the little village soon overstepped its
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'' Old New Orleans ''
391
boundaries, and from its southern frontier sprang up what is now known as the American district, affording a pleasing contrast to the older sections, and as beautiful as the latter is quaint, and as suggestive of new American ideas as the other is foreign. Let us tarry here but a moment and enjoy on^ of its most en- chanting sights. Wide airy streets lined on each side with stately trees, their spreading branches meeting overhead, forming a canopy of green, giving a lux- urious shade in summer, or the magnificent avenues dotted with pretty Southern homes, standing like a thousand islands mid a sea of flowers, denote the garden district. Oh ! the New Orleans garden, well may its praise be sung in prose and rhyme, and its beauties extolled the world over. Abloom the year round, it never ceases to breathe a sweet perfume into the atmosphere, creating a gentle balm, soothing and exhilarating to the senses. A veritable home of the flowers, where Mother Nature is lavish to a fault, and whose children love to bask in the south- em sunshine and please the sight with their variegated hues Here the multi-colored pansy and the timid violet peep from under their protecting foliage, or the sweet-scented mignon- ette rears its pretty head as if in mute admiration of the golden sunflower. The pure white lilies, gaily decked primrose, bril- liant marigold, vari-colored pinks and verbenas, and the drooping columbine seem to hold a con- gress of beauties, and vie with each other in splendor of form and color. Now and anon, to adorn a trellis or shade a cool porch, climbs the morning-glory vine, its delicate blossoms all radiant in the morning dew, and supplanted at night with the large refreshing moon-flowers, brilliant in the silvery moonlight. And again, the hardy wisteria is running up the magnolia tree as if to partake of its perfume, and as gentle reward covering it with a mantle of purple, making it appear as a king.
And the roses, nowhere are they seen in such splendor and profusion. From the scarlet climber aflame on the trellis to the delicate flesh-tinted tea rose, or the pale canary yellow Marshal Neil to the fragrant musk rose, one may gather and pluck and fill hampers and baskets to overflowing, the supply seems inexhaustible, and that which was culled to-day will be re- placed twofold on the morrow. Few indeed are the flowers that do not thrive
in this delightful southern clime, and its resid- ents have not been lax in availing themselves of this bounteous offering of nature and convert- ing their homes into huge conservatories, un- constrained by walls, and whose only roof is the azure vaults of the heavens above.
OYftTCR BOATS.
H. C. Dtltry.
Strolling through the thoroughfares of the old French quarter, one is strangely impressed by its queer and diversified architecture, here a combination of brick and stucco, with French gabled windows opening into small balconies overhanging ^the street, or else the stem for- bidding aspect of a Spanish residence, with its artistic interior courts, and again in some secluded spot, the unpretentious colonial home, its large inviting entrance being a fit suggestion of southern hospitality. But yet, we can per- ceive that the pioneer architects of the town took matters quite seriously, as is evidenced by some chaste classic designs, a most beautiful example being that of the City Hall, a stately edifice of pure precian Ionic reproduced in white marble, and also the private residences whose tastily wrought iron work ornamenting the grills, doors and balcony rails with intricate monograms (denoting perhaps the former oc- cupancy of some titled or wealthy family) many of which are wrought by hand, remind us that the artificers of those days were quite adepts at their trade.
But that which may prove most interesting to the curious are the interior courtyards, entered from the street through a wide portecochere, set in a deep recessed wall and opening into a hall or vestibule, from which can be caught a glimpse of beautiful quadrangular gardens, ivy-
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George fiankim.
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''Old New Orleans''
393
clad walls, bubbling and sparkling fountains, stairways leading to overhanging galleries, which contain mimic gardens in improvised beds of boxes, where geraniums blaze and bloom as brightly and blithely as if rooted upon spacious lawns, and a little captive canary behind its golden bars sweetly warbling a melody.
Down in the very heart of the " vieux carre *' stands the equestrian statue of General Jack- son, marking the most historical spot in Louis- iana. Here took place the formal transfer of the colony from nation to nation, and from where twice floated the tri-colored banner of France, once replaced by the red and gold flag of Spain, and from whence ascended, forever to remain, the starry emblem of liberty. The space once occupied as a parade ground for the troops is now a beautiful park, flanked on two sides by rows of dark red brick buildings, erected by a wealthy Spanish lady, and faced on another end by two of the most picturesque buildings in New Orleans, the old Court-houses, built a little before the birth of the present century by the Spaniards, one of these hav- ing been their Cabildo or City Hall, and between which stands the three-spired St. Louis Cathedral, whose merry chimes peel forth every Sunday morning in a gentle call to prayer.
From this park, within a stone's throw, flows the majestic Father of Waters, from whose bank can be barely perceived in the dim distance the famous Chalmette Battlefield, where General Jackson with his handful of sturdy Kentuckians and brave Louisianians, humbled the pride of the British army, culminating the war of 1812 with a glorious battle, winning undying fame for its gallant general. The government has deemed it proper to commemorate the spot by convert- ing a portion thereof into a National Cemetery. The green sward with its neat white headstones
TYPE OP CREOLE NCQIIO
TNK OAHS— DUELLING GROUND.
H. C. Delery.
set in military formation bring to mind the words of O'Hara's Bivouac of the Dead:
** The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo; No more on life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few. On Fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards with silent round The bivouac of the dead."
Shade trees grace the avenues, and a monu- ment adds solemnity to the scene.
A little to the left, partly hidd'^n in the foli- age, is the unfinished Battlefield monument, a plain shaft of white marble standing like a sentinel on guard, watching the silent graves. A grateful people began its erection, and stone by stone it gradually rose above its surround- ings, then a busy people forgot, and it remains to day a shameful example of man's incon- stancy.
Scattered along the battlefield, at spacious in- tervals, may be seen a few creole homes, pre- cious relics of anti-bellum days. Modest and retired, and of unpretentious appearance, the Creole's home is nevertheless one of his most sacred possessions, among which cluster his most endearing memories and fondest hopes. Handed down from father to son, these manor houses of the South, always inhabited by per- sons of similar tastes, have been subjected to little change, only as the needs of the succeed- ing occupants demanded. Of old colonial de- sign, where the rules of architecture have not
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394
Old New Orleans'*
[September
been closely followed, the long^ white stuccoed columns, rising from the ground and extending to the projecting ceiling above, sometimes re- lieved by an intervening balcony, its large but well proportioned entrance and wide airy hall, with living rooms on either side, form a unique plan, but one suggestive of ease and quiet re- pose. In the garden grow the luscious figs, ripening in the summer's sun, or a grove of orange trees, its golden fruit weighing its branches to the ground, and mayhap a sweet olive lending its fragrant perfume to the atmo- sphere.
In the rear of the city, bordering along the swamp is another battlefield, but one whose memories cause gloom and anguish to many a heart. A grove of trees draped in Spanish moss: The Oaks, the noted duelling grounds. Oh! could these gray bearded patriarchs of the forest be given tongues, what tales of useless bloodshed could they recount. The Louisiana Creoles, always very spirited and courageous, fought upon the slightest provocation, and to tread on one's toes, brush against one, carry off by mistake the lady with whom one was to dance, were ample grounds for a challenge. Seconds arranged the details, the principals met, and the affray often resulted fatally. For- tunately, these occurrences are exceedingly rare now, and one must inquire into the legen- dary past for records of such unfortunate hap- penings.
Removed from the noise and turmoil of the city, a beautiful tract of land, favored by nature and cultured by man, is devoted to the ceme-
COTTON--STCAMSHIP LANDING.
teries, those " Cities of the Dead " nowhere more appropriately named than in New Orleans. An unfavorable condition of the soil, too damp to permit interment underground, has required that tombs and mausoleums be built, some of most beautiful and costly designs. The Metairie, the principal of the cemeteries, was once a fam- ous race course, and rumor has it that a promin- ent gentleman of the city, desirous of becoming a member of the club and meeting with refusal, decided to purchase the grounds and change it into a burial place. The former race track is still retained in a main drive, and the rush and clamor of the race are now replaced by the slow and sorrowful funeral cortege.
Some of the old burying grounds, located in the very heart of the town, contain the remains of many persons of note, some who have figured quite prominently in the history of the country. Laid out without regard to symmetry, their tortuous aisles lead into intricate paths, among which the unwary may soon be lost. Curious epitaphs meet the gaze, and the tombs are faced with a white marble slab giving the name, age, and nationality of the person therein buried. In olden times, when the city was still in its in- fancy, public burials were held, where the cortege, headed by the clerg}'^ and the pall bearers, carrying the casket between them, were followed by friends of the deceased, holding lighted tapers in their hands. But this lugubri- ous custom has long been abolished. Yet the little black-bordered death notices, tacked at the street comers, the relic of a custom derived from theJFrench, still remain as a curio of the old city.
A clanging of bells and toot- ing of whistles, announces that we are 'on the river front, at the steamboat landing. The hour is now nooq, and the time of departure has arrived; all is bustle and confusion. The burly " roustabouts " follow each other in rapid succession along the gang plank, carry- ing a cargo of every conceiv- able variety. On the boat stands the mate, his stentorian voice being heard above the din, and whose utterances would form a most impolite dictionary of the Queen's Eng- H,S' Deiery. Hsh, dircctiug the proper stor-
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Old New Orleans"
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CNTRANCC TO •DANISH PORT.
H. C. Delery.
ing of the freight, and, all taken aboard, the lines are cast, and mid a cloud of vapor and smoke, hissing and puffing of steam, the great steamer moves majestically into the stream. Then one of the darkies, red bandana kerchief in hand, places himself at the bow and sings a farewell to the dusky dames ashore, whilst the other darkies join in the chorus as an accompaniment to their work.
The scene fllo'ng the wharf is quite pictur- esque ; here an incoming steamer laden with sugar, her decks awash as if about to sink; a little further another boat unloading her cargo of cotton, piled tier upon tier, until she is com- pletely enveloped in a mountain of bagging. On the landing the jolly negtoes, trucking the bales to a hundred gaily colored little flags, flapping in the breeze, each denoting a different consignment, and in a shady spot is an old "mammy" with an improvised restaurant, an old plank in lieu of a table, tin plates for dishes, and old tomato cans for glasses. The menu:
boiled vegetables, sometimes flavored with pork, sandwiches *' a la roustabout *' and " corn pone," a sort of corn bread, fit to give dispepsia to a horse, and the muddy Mississippi River water for wine, a repast such as only a hungry negro can relish.
New Orleans alone of American cities has preserved all the romance of its earlier days in the names of its streets, and with a simple di- rectory one can trace the entire history of the French and Spanish domination. Having had so many masters and been under so many gov- ernments. New Orleans has a history full of romance, and this it tells in its street nomen- clature. Religious tendency found expression, and the great achievements of the mother coun- try were not forgotten; Grecian mythology was invoked, and the muses, the graces, and gods, all served as god-parents for streets. The chival- rous French Creoles commemorated their lady- loves in the selection of sweet feminine names, and the prominent people at home also found
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Lantern Slide Making
[Skptember
a place, and one of its avenues boasts of being the first street in America to bear the busy rumbling wheels of the steam rail- road.
New Orleans is perforce a city of contrasts, one section intensely American, where the march of progress can be seen from day to day,
the other decidedly French, living in a state of nonchalance, as if loath to part with its memories of two centuries, a city teeming with romance, rich in historical interest, a city par excellence for the artist, who will find within its domains a myriad of subjects to appeal to his fertile imagination.
i-
£i
i
ON LAKE PONTC
//. C. Dtlery.
LANTERN SUDE MAKING FOR BEGIN- NERS.
BY ** PRIMROSE HILL."
X.— STANDARD DEVELOPERS. {Continued.)
(41) Or tot. — As an all-round developer for negatives, lantern slides, opals, bromide papers, it will not be easy to beat ortol. It keeps well in solution, can be used several times, does not stain plates, papers, or fingers unless very old, and apparently does not affect the skin as metol is apt to do.
Here is a two-solution developer that will be found to work well:
A
Ortol 50 grains
Potassium metabisulphite 25 grains
Potassium bromide 10 grains
Water 10 ounces
B
Soda carbonate i ounce
Soda sulphite j ounce
Water 10 ounces
Take equal parts of A and B.
(42) Rodinal. — This stands out as character- ized by its great simplicity. We simply buy a bottle containing a liquid called Rodinal, and take one part of this liquid and add 25 to 30 times as much water, and the developer is ready at once.
Another formula well recommended is as follows:
Rodinal i dram
Water i to 2 ounces
Potassium bromide i grain
This is a slower-acting developer than that first given.
(43) Glycin, — Here, again, we have an agent offering certain advantages which may be of special value to some workers. A grooved porcelain is filled with the very dilute developer. The plates are put in the vertical grooves, and so are stand. ng on edge. The trough is covered up. We leave the dark-room, write a letter, have supper, etc., and after half an hour or an hour return to the dark-room, take out those slides which are sufficiently developed, and put others in their places. This is sometimes called " stand •' or *' trough " development. Its chief point is that it acts yery slowly, so that a dozen slides may be developed together without fear of any great errors of development. In case of over-development we can tall back on reduction as a remedy.
In 10 ounces of hot water dissolve 60 grains of glycin, add 60 grains soda sulphite, and then add y2 ounce of potassium or sodium carbonate. This is then diluted with, say, 20 or more ounces of water, and used as soon as cold. The more dilute it is the slower it works.
(44) Glycin {Two Solutions) for Warm Tones, — The use of glycin is by no means restricted to
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Lantern Slide Making
397
stand or slow development. It may be used as a two-solution in the following forms:
A
Glycin 50 grains
Potassium bromide 10 grains
Soda sulphite ^2 ounce
Water : . . . 10 ounces
B
Potassium carbonate i ounce
Water 10 ounces
For use take 10 parts A and add from 2 to 10 parts B, according as you want a soft, medium, or strong result.
(45) Ferrous Oxalate ( Three Solutions). — This is one of the earliest developers used for dry- plate work, and in the minds of some it is still regarded as the best for slides — clean, bright, and free from fog or stain. For these reasons it still has a strong hold among many of those who use bromide opals and bromide papers. It is convenient to use this developer as a three- solution arrangement. A: Saturated solution of potassium oxalate. The oxalate is roughly powdered, added to hot water, and well stirred until no more can be dissolved. It is then set aside to cool. The clear part is then decanted or filtered away from the oxalate of lime which generally is thrown down from tap water. B: Saturated solution of iron proto-sulphate (also known as ferrous sulphate and as green vitriol). Clean crystals are roughly powdered and dissolved to saturation in cold water, the clear part decanted or filtered. To each ounce of pale green saturated solution add one drop of strong sulphuric acid. [This is intended as a preservative. But even with this the solution gradually discolors red-brown and become useless.] C: Potas- sium bromide, 8 grains ; water, I ounce. To prepare a normal developing solution mix in the following order : To 6 drams of A add I dram of B, and then i dram of C.
N.B.— The B (iron) must be added to the A (oxalate), and not vice versa.
Normally this developer gives rich black and clear, bright, clean lights. But with some plates under-exposure gives a greenish tinge. With consider- able under-exposure and a cor- HHk responding increase of bromide ^^V warm tones are obtainable. .^ill %,\rz •toov
(46). In using a ferrous oxalate developer we are always apt to get a slight veil or fog from tap. water impurities, unless the developer is well washed out of the film before it goes into the fixing bath. In lantern slide we should have at hand a pint jug of cold water to which has been added one dram (per pint of water) of acetic acid or hydrochloric acid. After pouring off the developer, do not wash in tap water, but use this slightly acid water. Give two rinsings of acid water, and then an acid fixing bath.
Note on the repeated use of the same develop- ing solution for several plates.
It may be laid down as a good general rule that no developer should be used after it shows the slightest tendency to stain the film.
Pyro developer should be mixed fresh for each plate. It soon discolors and stains, and gets frothy, giving bubble marks.
Hydroquinone can often be used for three or four plates, if developed quickly one after the other. But when it gives a stain it is of a very obstinate character, and practically incurable.
Ortol and Metol may be used several times, but they gets lower and slower, and old solutions stain the finger-nails.
A midol^ like pyro, should be for one plate only.
Rodinal also discolors on exposure to the air. For repeated use probably Ortol stands at the head of the list.
Ferrous oxalate must be discarded directly it shows signs of getting muddy. — Amateur Pho- tographer,
( To be continued.)
John Carf-enter.
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Home-Made Camera Stand
[September
A HOME-MADE CAMERA STAND A COST OF FIVE CENTS.
AT
BY EDGAR Z. HEBUERD.
F'^ OR home portraiture who has not felt j the want of something more practi- I cal than the ordinary tripod. In attempting to focus at the height of the sitter, the tripod usually is sprawled out in ungainly fashion, a trap for the clumsy amateur, and if the height has to be adjusted, each leg has to be separately taken care of; also if the sitter is waiting, as often is the case in home work, impatience is manifested and the pleasure for all is marred. At least this has been my experience, and I con- ceived the idea of conjuring something a little more handy and convenient. In the following I give the benefit of my experience to brother camerists for what it is worth :
Any ordinary chair will answer. I took a child's high chair that had outlived its useful- ness and removing the back and foot rest, left it in about the same condition as the ordinary chair, only a trifle higher.
In the first place I removed the seat and then secured two platforms of 7/8 inch stuff, and arranged one of them resting on the bottom rungs, the other on the top, which took the place of the seat that had been removed. Holes being bored in each corner of one of the pieces to receive the legs of the chair, these two plat- forms before being placed in position had a square hole mortised in the center to receive a rod I \ inches square (c). The top of this rod was let into a piece of 7/8 inch board about 6x8 inches. This piece is hinged to a similar piece, with a cleat on front edge to prevent the camera from sliding off. The camera rests on the piece with the cleat.
The adjusting apparatus is simply a cheap wood screw (a and h) that can be purchased at any hardware store, one half being used to form the adjustment to raise and lower the platform on which the camera is placed (a), the other half of the screw is used in tilting this platform to any angle desired (b).
By using wood to correspond with the chair to be utilized, and using a little care in making close joints between the legs and platform, and in any other place where needed, and when completed, finishing and varnishing the whole stand, there is no reason why it should not remain in any room with the camera on it as an article of furniture. An ordinary light sitting
room table, with tapering legs, such as are quite common now in all the furniture stores, could be very readily converted to this use by simply cutting the square holes in both the bottom and
HOMC-MADC CAMERA STAND.
top shelves to receive the rod which could be portable in this case.
The material to fashion this camera stand was all waste stuff, practically of no use, except in the purchase of the screws to connect legs with the platforms and the cabinet maker's wood screw as above described, altogether making total cost of five cents.
AUTOMATIC DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES.
A method of automatic development has been devised by which each plate is coated on the back with the necessary products, and the de- velopment is carried out in water which has been made slightly alkaline : The formula for the solution is as follows :
Pyrogallic acid 10 grammes
Sah'cylic acid i grammes
Dextrine 10 grammes
Alcohol 4 c. c.
Water 20 c. c.
The solution is spread upon the back of the plate and allowed to dry. To develop, it is suf- ficient to put the plate in water to which a few drops of ammonia have been added. The coat- ing dissolves and the developer is thus pre- pared.— Scientific A tncrican.
Digitized by
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
A6T0U, LCNOX AND mOEN FOUNDATlONt.
ROUND THK DARK COUNTRY WHKN THK SUN IS •CT."
Gto, W. Norn's, M.D.
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Early History of ^Photography
[Seitkmber
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE EARLY HIS- TORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY.*.
{Conclusion,)
THE following is a list of the things patented in his four patents : Nos. 8,842 (1841), 9,753 (1843), 12,906 (1849), 13,664 (1851), — in addition to his calotype process : Making prints on copper coated with a film of copper bromide or iodide. Making colored photographic images on metal plates. Making thin silver films by electro- deposition. Printing from paper prints on to sensitized metal, No. 8,842 (1S41). A hot solution of thiosulphate for fixing. Waxing pap>er prints. Warming paper during exposure to increase sensitiveness. Calotype paper which would keep. Modifying print by treating with potassium iodide, followed by hot solution of thiosul- phate. Backing waxed prints with colored papers to obtain a pleasing, artistical effect. Enlarging on calo- type paper. The publication of photographic prints. No. 9,753 (1843). Unglazed porcelain and varnished paper as supports of the image. Changing negative to posi- tive. Dipping print into strong potash solution. Mak- ing prints on steel plates, No. 12,906 (1849). An albumen process, No. 13,664 (1851).
The Internal History of Autoglyphic i Engraving.
From 1843 ^^d onwards, Talbot devoted much time to experiments with a view to engraving plates by photographic means. In addition to what Ni^pce had done in this direction, Poite- vin, in 1842, had produced an intaglio plate from a developed, but an unfixed daguerreotype plate
♦Copyrighted, 1900, in the United States by The Photographic Times Publishing Association. ♦Copyrighted in Great Britain by The Photograttt, Limited.
CRYrr AT LACOCK ABftCV USED BY TALBOT AS A DARK ROOM.
CHANCEL AND LADY CHARCL OF LACOCK CHURCH (tO BE RCSVORCD^.
by electro-deposition, the- metal depositing on the mercury, but not on the silver iodide. Fizeau improved this process so as to make it possible to work it commercially. Donn^ like- wise etched gilded daguerreotypes, and Beires, in Vienna, devised a similar process.
This was practically the extent of photo- engraving knowledge before Fox Talbot. The results of his labors were two patents— Nos. 565 (1852), and 875 (1858). The process described in the first of these is briefly as follows: A steel plate is cleaned and coated with a gelatine solu- tion containing bichromate of potash, dried and exposed to light under the design to be reproduced. The expos- ure lasts from five minutes to half-an-hour, and when fully exposed a yellow imago of the object is visible on a brown ground. The plate is then soaked in cold water, dipped in alcohol, and dried. The etching is done with a strong solution of platinic chloride, spread over the plate with a camel's hair brush, after which the plate is washed in water and the gelatine coating removed. In order to break up broad
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Early History of Photography
401
masses of shade, Fox Talbot first exposed a sensitive plate to light tinder one or two thick- nesses of crape, or under a glass ruled with fine opaque lines, or with a powder of opaque particles adhering to it. He also covered the steel plate with an aquatint ground consisting of particles of resin, before coating with gelatine. He also used colloid bodies other than gelatine, albumen, and gum arabic. This patent of 1852 is the first published record — so far as we can ascer- tain, and Dr. J. M. Eder, in his Handbuch^ is of the same opin- ion— of the sensitiveness to light of a mixture of gelatine and potassium bichromate and of the differ- ence in properties between the unexposed and exposed mixture. Until this is disproved Tal- bot must be regarded as the virtual founder of modern photo-engraving. If he did not origi- nate the idea — Ni^pce did that — he set to work on the basis which modern practice still recognizes as the best.
This second patent describes his modified procedure of the same process. He finds it best to dust the plate (on its removal from the copy- ing frame) with a fine resinous powder, to ^y. this to the surface by heating, and to then etch with perchloride of iron (ferric chloride).
LACOCK ABBEY FROM THC QROUNDS.
From an Early Caioty/e
From this description it is seen that Fox Tal- bot's process is photogravure in embryo and is in its essential principles identical with the modern process. His method of obtaining a surface which would retain ink over a con- siderable area, viz., by what he termed an " aqua-tint " ground, is that used until this day.
Our task is all but done. There remains only to present the skeleton of the history we have
been at some pains to detail.
Reade & Ni^pce. Daguerre. Talbot. Herschel.
1814. Com- mences ex-
periments.
LACOCK ABBCY. THC STABLE YARD.
From an Early Calotype.
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Early History of ^otography
[September
Robert Demacky.
Ni6pce. 1822. Photo- engraved plates pro- duced.
Daguerre.
Talbot.
Reade & Herschel.
1825. C o m- mences ex- periments.
1833- (Julys)
Death ot Ni6pce.
1834. Com- mences ex- periments.
1835 . Per- m a n e n t prints and camera im- age ob- tained.
1838. Rumor.s of Daguerre 's process.
1839. (Feb. 21) process published.
1839. (March 9) Reade's process.
1839. Her- schel's pro- cess.
Niepce.
Talbot.
Reade & Herschel.
Daguerre.
1839. Aug.
ig) process
published.
i84r. Calo-
type process
published.
1852. Pro- perties of bichromated
gelatine
applied to p h o to-en- graving . 1S52. Auto-
glyphicen-
graving.
We only ask the reader to study what we have laid before him in the course of this enquiry, and decide whether too much is claimed in our issue of February last. We believe that the un- biassed student will agree with what we then claimed, viz., that in point of precedence in pub- lication, scientific method, and productiveness, Fox Talbot's researches are entitled to the place of honor in the archives of photography. Before the centenary year of his birth closes we should like to see some active interest displayed by
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photographers in the Fox Talbot Mem- orial which is to take the form of the restoration of the Chapel at Lacock Abbey, England, where Talbot worked out his invention. Our readers can help in this, and at the same time become the possessors of a handsome memento of Fox Talbot, by applying to us for one of the three photogravures from plates made by Talbot, and specially printed on fine India paper by The Art Reproduc- tion Co., of London. These can be ob- tained for the sum of $1.50 each and the money paid will be handed over to the Memorial Fund, and credited to the name of the purchaser. Donations to the fund may likewise be sent through us. Reduced reproductions of the prints have appeared in our past issues. (The End.)
The accompanying cut shows Page I of Fox Talbot's original MS., and is re- produced from the archives of the Royal Society. The corrections are the work of an editor.
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THE END OP TNC ROAD.
Guy St tar MS,
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Simple Manipulation of Developing Papers
[Seffember
SIMPLE MANIPULATION OF DEVELOP- ING PAPERS.
BY MAXMILLIAN TOCH.
THE greatest boon to the professional and the amateur photographer since the invention of dry plates is un- questionably the perfection of de- veloping papers, not of the quick bromide kind, but of the slow species of which velox was the first. And yet there are many amateurs who have not been thoroughly success- ful in making what is popularly called " after supper pictures" because the directions in many cases are complex, and the causes of failure are too bewildering.
Not every amateur can afford to buy the ready made developers and not having a scale his patience gives out after a few failures, and while I have always advocated absolute care in following directions given by a manufacturer, I have tried to simplify those directions.
The average amateur works six days like an ordinary mortal, and on the seventh day he works like any two ordinary mortals. Of a fine Sunday morning he will tramp for miles, and in the afternoon he will print, and at night he de- velops his plates and monopolizes the bath- room usually when some one insists on entering
and then he uses language which would fog any plate if it were luminous.
It is good to know that nearly all the chemi- cals used by photographers with the exception of lead and mercury salts come under the rule "that a pint is a pound." You will find that a pound of carbonate of soda, sulphite of soda, hypo, and oxalate all fill bottles that hold a pint. The developers,such as amidol, metol,eikonogen, hydrochinon, etc. (pyro is the exception) which are put in one ounce vials, all hold one ounce of water. A teaspoon holds sixty drops, and if you fill any teaspoon with one of the developers just mentioned you will find you have sixty grains, and so starting with a teaspoon, and an empty one ounce bottle 3''ou can make your developer, and have the weights exact enough to warrant perfect pictures.
Amidol developer does not keep, therefore it is an excellent idea to make up your stock solu- tion of sulphite of soda, and when you are ready add the necessary amidol, a few drops of bromide, and you will be surprised to see how much better the results are.
My experience has been that solutions of metol and hydrochinon keep for months in glass stoppered bottles even though they are not filled or kept full, and a favorite formula is
ON THE BANRS OP THC CHARLES RIVCR.
/. //. McCorkle,
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The P* A* of A* Convention
40s
Metol . . 30 grains
(half a teaspoonful)
HydroQhinon 30 grains
(half a teaspoonful)
Pure dry carbonate of soda }^ ounce
(half an ounce bottle)
Pure dry sulphite of soda % ounce
(half an ounce bottle) Boiling water one pint.
To which add ten grains potassium bromide. This developer is excellent for dry plates and very rapid, but should be diluted with half water if the plate is fully timed.
I must say that at home I do not practice what I preach but last year while traveling in Italy I prepared eikonogen developer this way, and was very successful.
When making paper prints I take no chances of spoiling any after they are properly de- veloped, because I have a dish of water handy which is acidified with acetic acid (say one ounce ordinary acetic acid to i pint of water) into which I plunge the prints directly from the developer, and this stops the action of the developer, and keeps the prints clear and clean. When I cannot get acetic acid I take strong- vinegar. After they are in the acid a while I transfer them into the hypo. All operations except developing should be done face down.
THE R A. OF A. CONVENTION, MIL- WAUKEE; I90a
FROM reports to hand at this early date the 1900 Convention has been a most successful affair, the attend- ance being large, the exhibition excellent, business prosperous, and a general good time for all concerned re- sulting.
On another page will be found President Stein's opening address in full, and it will be seen to contain many strong useful points which the professional photographer would do well to digest and appropriate. Papers were also read by W. I. Scandlin on " Progress of Photogra- phy;" on the- Copyright Law of America, pre- pared by G. E. Waldo, Counsel for the Photo- graphers* Copyright League; on "Lighting" and ** What Are the Principles of Beauty in Art," by Prof. O. W. Beck.
Prof. Griffith, of Detroit, addressed the con- vention twice, and demonstrations of the Ives
Kromskop, and the McDonough color process were also given. The awards, which were made before the convention opened, are as fol- lows :
Grand Portrait Class.
ist Prize, No. 27, Moore & Stephenson, Atlanta, Ga. — Figure Bust.
2d Prize, No. 62, Dudley Hoyt, Rochester, N. Y. — Gold Medal.
3d Prize. No. 65, J. E. Giffen. Wheeling. W. Va.— Silver Medal.
4th Prize. No. 97, E. C. Dinturff, Syracuse, N. Y.— Bronze Medal.
Genre Class.
ist Prize, No. 40, E. S. Curtis, Seattle. Wash.— Figure Head.
2d Prize, No. 16, G. Moses & Son, New Orleans, La. — Gold Medal.
3d Prize, No. 57, Baker Art Gallery. Columbus. O. — Silver Medal.
Miniature Class.
ist Prize, No. 37, I. Benjamin, Cincinnati, O. — Gold Medal.
2d Prize, No. 10. D. Rosser, Pittsburg, Pa.— Silver Medal.
3d Prize, No. 63. Dudley Hoyt, Rochester, N. Y. — Bronze Medal.
4th Prize, No. 17. G. Moses & Son, New Orleans. La. —Diploma.
Class A.
1st Prize, No. 59, Elias Goldensky, Philadelphia, Pa. — Gold Medal.
2d Prize, No. 73, A. F. Proctor, Huntington, W. Va. —Silver Medal.
3d Prize, W. M. Morrison, Chicago. 111. — Bronze Medal (No. 115).
4th Prize, No. 41, E. S. Curtis. Seattle, Wash.— Diploma.
Class B.
ist Prize, No. 40, E. E. Dexter, McKeesport, Penna. — Silver Medal.
2d Prize, No. 74, A. F. Proctor, Huntingdon, W. Va.— Bronze Medal.
3d Prize, No. no. C. S. Bateham, Norwalk, O.— Diploma.
Class C.
ist Prize, No. 30, Louis Schreiber, West Bend, Wis. — Silver Medal.
2d Prize, No. 113, J. F. Denninger, Neenah, Wis. — Bronze Medal.
3d Prize, A. L. Jackson, Tacoma, Wash. (No. 84.) — Diploma.
Landscape Class.
ist Prize, No. 104, H. C. Meyer, Boise. Idaho.— Silver Medal.
2d Prize, No. 23, J. H. Field, Berlin, Wis.— Bronze Medal.
3d Prize. No. 67, Robert Wilkinson. Montpelier, Vt. —Diploma.
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Marine Class.
I St Prize, No. 64, Chas. E. BoUes, Brooklyn, N. Y.— Silver Medal.
2d Prize, No. 11, H. R. Fitch, San Diego, Cal.— Bronze Medal.
3d Prize, No. 23, H. H. Morrison, Seattle, Wash.—
Diploma.
M.J. Steffkns, Chicago,
J. C. Strauss, St. Louis, Mo ,
F. M. SoMERS, Cincinnati, O.,
Judges.
Special trophy to Geo. E. Van Norman whose exhibit came too late to go before the judges.
E. B. Core, New York, President.
Detroit was fixed upon as the place of meet- ing for next year, and the following officers were elected to serve for 1901 :
D. D. Spellraan, Detroit, ist Vice-President.
H. S. Klein, Milwaukee, 2nd Vice-President.
J. G. Nussbaumer, Buffalo, Secretary.
SOUND SENSE AND SOLID BUSINESS*
President Stein's Address to the Photog- raphers* Association of America, Milwaukee, 1900.
I HAVE felt a little curious at times as to how the annual speech from the president appears to you — whether it is a part of the proceedings you would be sorry to miss, or whether it is an infliction to be meekly submitted to.
I heard some one. say the other day that one definition would equally apply to nearly all the speeches he has ever listened to. This is, that they were one-tenth sound sense and nine-tenths flummery.
Now, I do not want to talk flummery, nor do I suppose you want to listen to it. But there are one or two points I would like to touch upon which have nothing to do with fads or theories. They are sound sense and solid business.
One of them is professional jealousy. I wish that some of our professional friends could real- ize more fully the blighting effects of this need- less evil and how inevitably it reacts to the prejudice of those who display it. It is not merely that it is a grudging confession of piti- ful inferiority, but it cankers the very root of that mutual trust and esteem, without which such an organization as ours must ever fail of achieving its most valuable purposes.
We want to come together more freely upon an even footing of friendly confidence, admit- ting of a generous, fraternal rivalry that shall
leave no room for carping criticism or little- minded bickerings. If one lags behind us in the race, let us cheer and encourage him. It will mean no loss to us, while it may mean much gain to him, and if it stimulates him to his bet- terment not only he but the whole profession is a gainer; if one forges ahead of us he has earned our applause and should not be denied it.
No man under the canopy ever found him- self, or any other man, bettered by harboring a prejudice, whether it be well or ill founded. It is lite a wall, that girds us in from all the beauty and the splendor of the broader horizon of good will and fellowship that lies there — wasted to some of us, simply because we will not trouble to step outside the wall to enjoy it.
The second point is the need of more original thought and treatment. It seems, somehow, as if there are relatively few who care to use their wit and ingenuity for the creation of new effects in treatment, method, or display. The remainder seems to be content to be simply copyists. Even in such a matter as a mount, for instance, many are content to blindly follow the lead of some clearer- witted member of the craft, instead of settling their wits to work to create some- thing distinctive of their own. Now this free any easy appropriation of another man's ideas is distinctly a confession of inferiority, which any man who takes a legitimate pride in his profession should be ashamed to make. The men who do this sort of thing are not lacking as a rule, in technical knowledge, in experience, or in capacity. They can do better if they will do better — why is it that they won't ?
All they would need to do is to follow Etty's precept. Do you remember his reply to the man who asked him what medium he used to obtain such purity to coloring? He said: " Brains, sir." This is all the copyist needs to do to lift himself out of the rut he travels in— use his brains.
And the third point I want to touch upon is prices. The cutting of prices is a great and cry- ing evil, which is harmful to all and helpful to none— not even to the man who pays the low prices, for he gets the worth of his money — perhaps, but certainly no more.
Keep up your prices. If you make cabinets worth $10 a dozen, charge $10 for them. Stick out for a good price for good work, and don't think there's either money or glory in cutting the price to $5.
Remember that your prices should never be
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Geo. Han kins.
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[September
wholly controlled by present, and local conditions, though they are always to be taken into consideration. Back of them there is always a vista of years of effort and study, for which there was seldom, if ever, a present reward, though hope tinged the future with all sorts of rainbow beau- ties. And this is that future. Now, if ever, is the time for those hopes to be realized. But that realization rests with you, and by cutting prices you ensure the surest of all possible means of never at- taining it.
When Whistler, the famous artist, exhibited a series of color sketches some years ago at the Grosvenor gallery in London, John Ruskin declared that it was disgraceful to call such daubs pictures and ac- cused him of ** Flinging a paint pot in the face of the public." Whistler sued him for libel. On a purely techni- cal point he gained his case, but the justice of Ruskin's criticism was approved by the verdict of one farthing (that is, half a cent) damages.
But, in the course of that famous trial. Whistler made a reply that is especially to the point in this connection. He was being cross-examined and had stated that these *' Noc- turnes" and "Symphonies," as he fancifully named them, took him about two hours to paint, and he charged $i,ooo apiece for them. The counsel asked him: *And do you really contend, Mr. Whistler, that a picture which only took you two hours to paint can be honestly worth $i,ooo?"
And Whistler said : " You forget the years of study that made it possible for me to paint that picture in two hours." Now that reply was a good one, and, when fixing your charges, you want to remember the years of study that have brought whatever power you possess to their fruition of performance.
WHO CAN TELL WHAT A SABY THINKS."
Philadelphia Salon^ i8gg.
But that fruition will depend as fully upon the cultivation, upon correct lines, of your perceptive appreciation of artistic beauty and tasteful treatment as it will upon the mastery of the technical de- tails, of your profession. Be especially chary of fads, for they generally run to ex- tremes, and extremes are always to be avoided.
There has been a striking similarity between the trend of photographic art of recent years, and that of the Euro- pean schools of art since the days of the little band of en- thusiasts who are now known to history as the pre-Raphael- ites. They revolted at the lifeless formalism of the art of their day and aimed to correct the prevalent conven- tionalism of mediocrity by infusing art with a purer and more elevated spirit.
One means by which they aimed to do this was expressed in their motto that "Nature should be painted as it is, not as it looks to be." With the rabid enthusiasm that reform- ers so often show, they went to extremes that many thought supremely ridiculous. If a bird was so far away in a landscape that it was hardly more than a speck in the picture, they would yet paint that bird's eyes because the bird certainly had eyes, even if the observer was too far away to see them .
When Sir John Everett Millais painted the "Huguenot "he spent seven months painting the moss upon the wall, and when Holman Hunt sent his "Carpenter's Shop at Nazareth" to one of the Paris expositions, the painting of the shavings was the sensation of the year. The Parisians raved at the care with which even the most trivial detail of those shav- ings was given, but when the artistic merit of such rendering was discussed— they said
W. S. Clow.
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little, but shrugged their shoulders, very ex- pressively.
As was to be expected, this fervor was fol- lowed by a violent reaction and the pendulum swung from the one extreme of the pre-Raphael- ites, where form and accuracy of detail were chief essentials, to the other extreme of the im- pressionists, as in some artists of the Barbizon school, who paid little attention to drawing but much to color impressions and atmospheric eflFects.
And now we are passing through another re- action, but one which is less violent. The best current art avoids both extremes, but combines the best features from each.
And so it has been with photography. The first impulse to artistic betterment came in the form of a craze for sharp- ness. It was, as with the pre-Raphaelites, carried to undue extreme and led to many revolts. And .then came the swing of the pendulum to the other extreme of fuzzi- ness. From pictures that were too sharply de- fined we came to have pictures that, as with the impressionists, lacked any sort of definition at all.
And now, as with the painters, there is a second reaction, which is bring- ing us to a condition which is healthier and saner than either extreme can ever be, for it avoids their faults and combines their merils.
It is upon such lines that the best photo- graphic art of to-day is being turned out, and it is upon such lines that I would urge you all to work, for therein is the truest artistic expression, and thereby will you en- sure your most certain reward.
A MEXICAN BKaOAR OIRL.
A FRIENDLY CRITICISM OF THE GENRE PHOTOGRAPHS AT MILWAUKEE.
BY C. H. STAUNTON.
WE were pleased to note as we entered the exhibition hall and turned to the left, two things; first, that there had been given to the Genre Class a prominent place, and second, that there were a goodly number of exhibits in this Art division of photography. For is there not Art in Genre ? Surely if we claim that there be Art in our profession it must be admitted by all that Genre is the exemplification of that Art.
But as we began to examine these specimens — supposed to be the height of excellency — we were muc/i surprised and disappointed^ and as we came before works of men who have made themselves famous by their achievements with the camera, our surprise was greater, and our dis- appointment did not abate. Here were photographs on which our artists were supposed to have exer- cised their best efforts, but they were decidedly lacking in perception, ac- curacy, and execution.
We know that these dis- plays as photographs were good samples, but a Genre picture must be far more than a good photograph.
We know also that in this criticism we are plac- ing ourselves in juxtaposi- tion to a large number if not all of those who viewed the displays; but this does not cause us to hesitate as we believe that the faults should be pointed out, and we feel sure that the majority will agree with us when these deficiencies are brought before their attention. Be it under- stood by all that at this writing the prizes have not been awarded, and that IV. y. Piatt. the opinions contained in
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PA. von Schoeller.
this article are thoroughly unbiased and im- partial, being based wholly upon the author's perceptions and convictions of the principles of illustrative art, which perceptions and convic- tions are the results of the solid experience of over three thousand Genre pictures in the past two years.
Beginning with " Fame," we will say that this picture was spoiled by the wreath on the sub- ject's head. The lines, " The way to fame is like the road to heaven, blest with tribulation," do not suggest that the subject has reached fame, but that he is on "the way." The marks of tribulation shown in the face and form of the old man were sufficient. Had the wreath been left off it would have been one of the very best.
The next picture "The Song of the Shirt"
calls for few remarks. Genre pictures must speak; this one was silent. "It might have been" — Well, the title best describes what we think of it. The maker undoubtedly had an idea, but he did not put it into his picture.
In the display from Seattle, by Curtis, we did not find so much to criticize. There was a sameness about all three pictures that could have been avoided and should have where all were to be used in one display. Otherwise they were very commendable.
" The Last Chapter " was fair, but a bible should have been used that was free from con- cordance and maps, so that the book would have been open at the last page. The subject corresponded well with the book, but the pic- ture would have appealed to the observer more had the old gentlemen been looking down with
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sad expression, which would have made it per- fect.
'* A Fractured Skull " was almost worthless. In the first place the idea practically was old, having its complement in " Man, Know thy Destiny " or ** What's the Use," either of which is better. Then the title does not necessitate the old gentleman, and he is absolutely an ob- struction, for surely he is not **a fractured skull." If you took him away, the picture re- minded us of the school boy*s effort — " this is a cow." Hence we say it was almost worthless.
"The Song of the "Kettle" was very evi- dently a make-up — and a very poor one at that — big wooden shoes with modern and refined faces. A good subject but not properly handled.
** Priscilla " was at fault on the same line — too modern a face for the costume; as was also " The Sabbath Da)'." The latter was also too formally posed. Had the grass been taken care of and the eyes looking straight ahead " Old Black Joe " would have been faultless.
On the whole " Fame," " The Last Chapter," " Philosophy," and " Old Black Joe," were the best, except Mr. Curtis's set, which as works of art and as illustrations of their titles were far ahead of all others in our estimation.
In conclusion, we will say that next year, we are going to the home of one who has assisted us by his pleasing and instructive lectures, and let the photographers who enter the Genre Class there show Mr. Griffith that they have profited by his efforts.
A STORY.
BY DAVID A. TAl.MADGE.
ONE day Mrs. Lensby took a photo- i graph of the baby — and that was I the beginning of a story; another day she photographed Mr. Lens- by— and that made the story interesting. Interval between photographs, sixteen days.
Mrs. Lensby's camera was a cheap affair — cost five dollars, to be exact. It was made especially for snap-shots, and it sulked and balked, and acted horrid whenever it was called upon for time exposures. Mrs. Lensby recol- lects perfectly more than one occasion when it refused absolutely to work on time; and it was only by the most persistent of effort on her part that it was finally induced to keep its shutter open; and then, Mrs. Lensby having counted off the seconds, it glared fiendishly
at her from its finder, and refused to close again.
Mrs. Lensby was quite exasperated on this occasion. She swore fervently, as women of refinement and delicate sensibilities swear, and was sorely tempted to slap the nasty, stubborn thing right on its shutter-hole; but fortunately, just before her exasperation reached the point of desperation, the camera, perhaps realizing that the plate upon its interior was becoming over- done, yielded to her importunities, and closed as gracefully as a camera of its price could be expected to close
After this experience, and several others, Mrs. Lensby devoted many moments to cultivating the instrument. She believed implicitly that the fault was in herself — that she did not fully understand the method by which time ex- posures were regulated; and, being a woman of considerable determination, she set about put- ting the difficulty to rights. Of course, you know and I know that a five-dollar camera is worth little more than five dollars, and that successful time exposures are worth something better than this figure, descriptive circulars to the contrary notwithstanding; but Mrs. Lensby did not know this; all hand cameras looked alike to her, and she possessed the sublime faith which is engendered only by ignorance. There are few owners of cheap cameras who are unlike Mrs. Lensby; most of them, however, pass through the five-dollar stage with extreme rapidity, and it is not at all uncommon to find them doing work which is superior in many respects to that of the professional, who, poor man, doubtless finds life bursting with troubles.
Mrs. Lensby came, after much application of energy, to a point where she exultantly declared herself master of the time exposure department of her instrument. It was a real triumph, she told herself, and it should be fittingly cele- brated. She would take the baby's picture while the dear little chap was in the state of nature incidental to his morning bath. Accord- ingly she made her preparations, placing the camera upon a low stool, and the child in his small tub with a cake of soap to amuse him. It will make a perfect gem of a picture, she thought, as she knelt by the side of the camera and proceeded to open the shutter.
"Nowsy, tootsie wootsie, teepy twiet des a ittie minute! Ah-ah-ah! Ze pwecious mustn't widdle! Ooty mommy! Phwooot! Zere! Tmile at momy! Toot-toot-toot-toot-ti-ti-toot!"
The baby, clutching the soap in his chubby
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hands, gurgled and gooed ecstatically, and Mrs. Lensby opened the shutter. It remained open. She closed it — and it closed. I am sorry to disappoint the expectant reader, but really everything worked precisely as it should have worked, and we should feel glad therefor with the fair operator who, it must be confessed, could hardly believe her senses. I am aware that the reader has been hoping wickedly that the child would tip the tub over, or that the shutter would fail to work, or that something of a similarly calamitous nature would happen. Reader, are you not ashamed of yourself? What has Mrs. Lensby ever done that you should wish her ill in her home photographic exer- cises ?
True, she discovered subsequently that she had omitted to put a plate in the camera, but that was a trifling matter. She had proved conclusively that her camera was tractable when properly manipulated. Furthermore, she had found that the baby would pose under the spell of warm water and soap. She was per- fectly satisfied, as indeed she might well have
been, for it is something to accomplish, even without a plate — the photographing of a baby with a five-dollar camera and without assistance. Very few professionals would attempt it.
She repeated the experiment on the follow- ing morning, having remembered the plate this time, and a signal triumph was the consequence. It was extremely fortunate that she had not deferred the matter lopger, for she had barely finished dressing the child when a party of relatives — her pwn relatives, and therefore not unwelcome — arrived from up in the country to remain two weeks, and further photography was out of the question. The Lensby home, in common with thousands of other homes in this happy country, was hired-girlless, and company to Mrs. Lensby meant, aside from the pleasure of visiting, a vast increase in th*e number and dimensions of her household duties.
Therefore, the camera reposed upon a shelf in a closet for fourteen days, and on the fifteenth day Mrs. Lensby was a physical wreck, and on the sixteenth day she laboriously put the house in order for the seventeenth, which was Sunday.
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Mr. Lensby remained at home on Sunday. It was the day on which he found surcease from the worries of business, and rest for his mortal frame, by lugging ashes up the cellar stairs from the furnace, and hammering nails into sundry places, and renewing his acquaintance with his son. It was his custom also to indulge in the luxury of an after-dinner nap on this day, using for the purpose the parlor couch, which occupied a position against the east wall, directly opposite the west window, in which the afternoon sun poured great volumes of light. And Mrs. Lensby had thought many times, as she contemplated him lying there, how easy it would be to take a photograph of him, and what a joke it would be, lor Mr. Lensby had an antipathy to being photographed. He looked upon photography as a questionable occupation, and frowned darkly whenever Mrs. Lensby evinced symptoms of enthusiasm in his pres- ence.
The reason for this prejudice — for prejudice it was certainly enough — is easily determined. There was but one obstacle to Mr. Lensby's political supremacy in the ninetieth ward, and that obstacle was one Schotts, a photographer.
Schotts and Lensby were rivals. Each wished to drive in the pleasant little game of horse called politics, and the cordiality with which they admired each other was something frightful.
Now, Schotts had a daughter, and the daugh- ter had a lover whose name was Blugg, and Blugg was somewhat of a figure in politics him- self. He was a man of considerable weight, his waist measure being upwards of forty-three inches, and Schotts had not the slightest objec- tion to accepting him as a son-in-law; in^truth, he rather favored the notion, for he believed that he and Blugg, by pulling together, could land all the fish worth catching in the ward pond.
"Hang it all," said he to Blugg, ** things would be all right if it wasn't for that chump Lensby."
Schotts was similar to the ordinary run of mankind in one respect at least — he designated as chumps, or an equivalent, all persons whom he had good and sufficient reason to suspect of being superior to him in wit and wisdom; hence, the designation was really a compli- ment.
** Lensby will stand to represent the ward on the board this fall," said he, **and we must put up something strong, my boy. What do you say to going against him yourself T'
Blugg had thought of it — had quite made up his mind in fact long before.
*'Sure," said he. "And if I win out, will the girl marry me at once ?"
" She will," said Schotts, with the conviction of a stern parent.
It will be inferred from this that Miss Schotts was not inclined to favor the suit of Blugg. But — as Schotts reasoned — Blugg the alderman was a different proposition from Blugg the rounder, without visible means of support, and he doubted not that the change in circum- stances would effect a change in the girl's sentiments It often happens so.
Miss Schotts — to make confession of a secret which is not a secret, being known to all the gossips of an extensive neighborhood — had a tender feeling for Morgan Lensby, younger brother of Mr. Lensby, and a ris- ing young man in the baking powder trade. And Schotts trembled with indignation when- ever he thought of it, for he felt that, in case the girl and the brother of his rival married each other, there would be nothing left for him to do but move into another ward, far, far away, and begin life over again.
So, in the fight which came on, there was much of strenuousness. The dear people little
//. A. BeaHey.
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appreciate the motives which actuate political leaders; it is seldom that the avowed issue is the vital one. Schotts worked as he had never worked before, but he was forced to admit to himself, as election day drew near, that noth- ing short of a miracle would defeat Lensby, and he prayed for a miracle — not to the Power of all Powers, but to the god of chance. And his prayers were answered.
A little woman entered his gallery one day, when election was less than forty-eight hours in the future, and asked him if he would please be so kind as to develop a plate for her. She had not learned to develop yet, she said, and she had a great curiosity to see what her camera was capable of when working on a time- exposure basis. Schotts was a bit surprised, for the woman was Mrs. Lensby; but he ac- cepted the job courteously, promised to have it ready the next morning, and bowed the guile- less little woman out, after which he developed the plate, and immediately afterwards a high degree of elation. The plate revealed his friend Lensby in an unmistakable state of anger, throttling a child.
'* Of course," thought Schotts, *4t's a double exposure, but the boys won't know that, and they'll — they'll vote against the cuss, sure's youVe bom!"
He inspected the negative delightedly, but critically.
"The lady didn't give the attention to the shadows that she should ; that kid's black in the face. Humph! Lensby must have been asleep when she took him; that's an expression of slumber on his face, but — but ain't it fiendish! *T would pass for any sort of angry passion, that expression would!"
He chuckled, and went about his business, of which he had a great deal just at that time. Whether or not his conscience pricked him I cannot say, but probably it did not. All is fair in war — of which politics is a species; but nevertheless he knew that if the report got into circulation that he was violating the con- fidence of his patrons, his business in that neighborhood would go a-glimmering. He was very cautious. No one but Blugg was entrusted with a copy of the photograph, and Blugg worked the game in half the ward while he himself worked it in the other half.
"Happened to get it," he whispered to the voters, gravely drawing the photograph from his pocket; "his wife — poor little woman had
tears in her eyes — brought it for me to fix up for her; intends to use it in evidence, I s'pose, if he does it again. No man to represent this ward, is he ? Guess not. Give him what he deserves."
That night Mr. Lensby came home to supper with a worried look upon his face.
" They've got some sort of a story out against me," he told his wife; "some ridiculous lie about my treating the baby cruelly. I can't learn how they got it, but for some reason the voters take stock in it. It appears to have struck a soft spot, and they're turning against me. If I can't kill it to-night, I'm done for, and I'll be hanged if I know how to go at it."
Mrs. Lensby's ideas upon the point being rather meagre, the meal was finished in silence. Lensby arose from the table and put on his hat.
"I shall probably be out late, my dear," he said. "I—"
The door bell rang at that instant, and he answered the summons in person, admitting his brother and Miss Schotts.
" We came down," said young Lensby — he was puffing somewhat, and there were evi- dences of excitement upon him — "to put you onto the game they're playing against you. We — we stopped on the way to — er — get mar- ried or we'd have been here sooner. The — er — there it is."
He tossed a photograph upon the table, and smiled at his bride, who blushed and looked at the floor. Mr. Lensby clutched the photograph, and gazed at it, bewilderedly at first, then savagely.
"This is some of your work, I presume, madam," he said, holding the print before the little woman's startled eyes. You were good enough to tell me this morning that you had a joke on me, but I little imagined that it was such a — a damnably funny one. What a keen, razor-like sense of humor you have! What marvelous gems of photographic art you pro- duce! Heavens!"
He groaned deeply, and walked to the win- dow, where he stood for several minutes looking into the electric-lighted street. When he again confronted the company, there was a smile upon his face.
" Where did you get this — this horror ?" he inquired.
" Blugg gave it to her," said young Lensby, indicating his bride. " He asked her, I believe, if she cared to marry into a baby-choking
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family, and she— er — told him she did. Then she brought the picture to me/*
**Good girl," said Lensby; "but where did the thing get out ? How — "
" I — I carried it to — to Mr. Schotts to be developed," confessed Mrs. Lensby, chokingly.
"And Schotts violated your confidence!" snorted Mr. Lensby. " Very good! I'll see Schotts at once, and give him his choice be- tween a thorough exposure by handbill and — er — something else."
" You — you might include a blessing for us in the tenns," suggested young Lensby, as his brother opened the door.
"I'll do it," said Mr. Lensby; "and as for you, madam," looking at his wife — ** well, you congratulate these young people; I'm too busy. If I'm elected, I'll — I'll forgive you, I will by thunder!"
The rest of the story is a simple matter of history. Mr. Lensby was elected. Schotts meekly took his wilful daughter to his heart, and settled down as a second-rate political power from thenceforward. Mrs. Lensby con- tinued to indulge her passion for photography. Mr. Lensby never overcame fully his prejudice against the fad, as he called it; but on the Christmas following the election young Lensby proposed that they buy the little woman a Solo- graph with a double anastigmatic lens, and he agreed to it with fairly good grace. The fact is, if Mrs. Lensby had not photographed the baby and Mr. Lensby upon the same plate with a cheap camera several desirable things would never have been accomplished, and Mr. Lensby is not unappreciative of his blessings, even though they may have come upon him nega- tively.
CLUB MEMORANDA.
THE PHOTCX^RAPHIC TIMES It the OffidaUy Appokited Organ of : the HARVARD CAMERA CLUB, Cambridge, Mass.^ the BROOKLYN CAMERA CLUB, Brooklyn, N. Y«
HARVARD CAMERA CLUR
THE lecture-plan, outlined in the re- port of last month, is being carried out by formulating a list of speakers from the ranks of famous art stud- ents. These lectures are to be given in the Lecture Room of The Fogg Art Museum of Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass.; and some of the best will be open to the public. To the latter we would call the attention of all photographers interested in art. Throughout the year all such workers, who either live near or happen to be about Boston, will be heartily wel- come. The speakers and lecture-subjects will be soon reported as a whole in these columns; and also month by month as they occur. We would recommend an early arrival for in our audiences of two or three hundred it is some- times difficult to get a good hearing seat.
H. W. Eliot, Jr.,
Cor. Sec.
BROOKLYN CAMERA CLUa
At a special meeting of the Club held /% on the 25th inst., the Photographic
/ % Times Silver and Bronze Medals ^ ^ were presented to the winners.
Mr. J. C. Abel, editor of the Pho- tographic Times, and Mr. J. N. E. Marchand judged the pictures and awarded the silver medal to Mr. C. M. Shipman for the best group-
The Club's prize, a folding pocket Kodak, was awarded to Mr. C. M. Shipman for the most interesting picture.
One thing worthy of notice is the improve- ment in the members* work during the past year.
Mr. J. C. Abel gave a short talk on Photo- graphics, which was appreciated by all the members present.
The Club propose having an exhibit of sum- mer work next November.
John J. Tresidder, Secretary.
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NEW HOME AND ENLARGED HEAD- QUARTERS FOR THE OLDEST PHOTOGRAPHIC HOUSE IN AMERICA*
THE Scovill & Adams Co. of New York, have moved their executive offices, salesrooms, and warehouse to the large twelve story building at Fifth Avenue, corner of 19th Street. The Fifth Avenue number of the building is 142, and the entrance to the executive offices of the Scovill & Adams Co. of New York, is No. 3 and 5 West 19th Street.
The business will be divided in sectional de- partment. Wholesale Department, City Depart- ment, Foreign Department, Publication Depart- ment, and Sample Room. The last will be a feature that will appeal to out-of-town buyers, who have a limited time to spend in New York and must necessarily inspect, in a short time, everything that is new in the photographic line.
The Scovill & Adams Co., who are the suc- cessors to the photographic business of the Scovill Mfg. Co., have been making photographic cameras and specialties since 1856, and were the first to put a pho- ■--'
tographic outfit (especially de- signed for the amateur) on the market in this country
As a bit of historica information and to re- cord the wonderful progress of photog- raphy, we publish, what we think will be of great inter- est to the amateur, an illustration of an old photographic outfit such as was sold by the Scovill Mfg. Co., and with it some later outfits, leading up finally to the vSolograph, which is a dwarf in size but a giant in capacity. It is sufficient to look back a few years and ascer- tain all the inconveniences and trouble to which an am a teur photographer was willin;^ to put himself in order to gratify
OLD STYLK CQUIPMCNT.
his love of the photographic art, to be con- vinced that photography is not a mere pastime, but a necessity of civilized life. But what a change has been wrought since 1856. During this period it has been the constant endeavor of the Scovill & Adams Co. of New York, to incorporate any improvements sug- gested by existing condi- tions. For a time its factories labored under the greatest disadvantages in competing with recently established manufactories, which flooded the market with cheap cameras at a cheap price. The Scovill & Adams Co. contented
itself, during that period of transition, with supplying the demand of those who had grad- uated in the dear school of experience, and felt that they must have the best camera- even if they had to pay what it was worth — rather than cater to the uninitiated by lowering the quality and capability of their goods. This gave them the opportunity to study the way to lower consistently the cost of production and at the same time furnish the highest grade of instrument. The result of this defin- ite policy was the production of the Solograph, which embraces a line of cameras, ranging in price from 1 16 up. The advanced ama- teur knows the merits of the Scovill apparatus, for few have used any other, but the be- ginner, is apt to fol- ow the inexperienced multitude, and to those the advice of the Scovill & Adams Co. is, before buying a photographic instrument, to examine a Solograph side by
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side with the best of any other make; to com- pare them in point of workmanship, quality of material, and durability.
The Scovill & Adams Co. invites its old patrons to visit their new and more spacious quarters, and all those who are interested in photography, whether professionals or ama- teurs, to inspect their line of goods as ex- hibited in their sample rooms, from the small 4x5 Cycle Solograph to the 25 x 30 high- grade Studio Cameras, with all the manifold apparatus and supplies that, years ago, when the house of Scovill & Adams Co. was founded, were unknown, but are now daily necessities.
A BOLOQRAPHCfl 1900.
The Gtmera* — ^Augfust.
The Camera has absorbed the Photo Clipper, which was recently started by Felix Raymer, of Effingham, 111. With its increased number of pages and under the able management of Mr. Chambers, this paper promises to be one of the best of the dollar journals.
''Retouching Nesfatlves,^ by Mathllde Lamor.
The beginner must understand that re-touching is considered only as a remedy for inevitable faults in pho- tographic manipulations, and cannot be too carefully studied. It is very easy to acquire a smattering of the work, but it is not everybody who can touch well, for it requires a great deal of good judgment, lightness of hand, patience, and close application, all of which quali- ties few people possess. One of the first troubles begin- ners usually have to contend with is to deposit the lead exactly where it is wanted on the negative, and in such a way that it cannot be detected. The touch at first is naturally too heavy, and the best way to overcome this is to practice with a finely ]>ointed pencil on a piece of white paper, the various strokes, etc. . employed to de- ]>osit the lead on the negative as required; for instance try the " stipple," which means practically a succession of small dots placed very closely together, or a succession
of straight lines, also curves and small circles, a zig-zag motion (which is almost universally used), or '• hatching.' which means drawing a number of fine parallel lines and crossing them with others at various angles. Piacticc of this kind soon enables the touch to become lighter and the beginner is then able to *' clean up " a negative without causing lumpy or rough patches in the face.
"Line Lighting/' by Felix Raymer*
Place the background directly against the side-light, and running parallel with it, and the sitter about five feet in advance of it, with back towards the ground. Your top-light, if of ground glass, must be left open If of clear glass, use diffusing curtains all over it. All the curtains on the side-light should be pulled all the way to the top. Now turn the sitter's head away from the camera until a full profile is obtained. LT.se your opaque head screen to divide the light and shadow as m the il- lustration. You will notice a strong light on the head and both the shoulders. Of course, in making this light- ing» you will be facing your light with your camera, and are liable to have your plate fogged from the light strik- ing your lens. A careful examination of the image on the ground glass will reveal the presence of this reflec- tion or fog, if it exists, by showing a bluish haze, and especially in the heavier shadows, in which there will be no detail if such fog is present. You should also use a side reflector of a gray tint —white is too glaring. The
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side reflector should be placed about six or eight feet from the sitter and drawn close up to the camera to pre- vent a reflected light from appearing just under the ear, as that portion of the face should be the deepest shadow. By following these simple directions and with a careful selection of sitters, you will have no trouble in making what is called the '* Line Light. "
Photo Era. — ^Au^st*
Some Desultory Thoughts on ''Art»^ by Harold Hutchinson*
The tendency of the great exhibitions is to call first for individuality and secondly for artistic excellence; or, at least, such is the result ihey obtain. Consequently various processes are resorted to which, while they might be of considerable service when properly handled, are made the vehicle of obtaining the much sought ori- ginality, and often would be better left untried. Unless the young amateur has a pretty strong head, he will l)e led off by example into wilds where he will be hopelessly lost, both as an artist and as a photographer.
Let me exemplify one error by a picture which was ac- cepted at a recent salon and illustrated by a full-page cut in the Photographic Times for May, 1900, a landscape by N. W. Carkhuff. The print has been manipulated so as to give the impression of the strongest light coming from a certain quarter of the sky, while the shadows of the sheep fall at an angle of more than ninety degrees from that direction. This may be original, but is it art? Nor is this the only case of exactly the same fault ap- pearing in recent salon pictures. It is referred to here merely because the illustration may easily be obtained for examination. Such things show a crying need for more careful judging along certain lines.
The Amateur Photosfraphen — England^ Jaly 27«
'^ Hints for Photographic Tourists,^ by G« A. Fowkcs«
It is a good plan when traveling to place inside one's trunk or portmanteau a slip giving the address of the
house or hotel at which one is to stay, and also the per- manent address, so that if the outside label gets torn off the railway company will be able to forward the luggage on, instead of its being sent to the lost luggage depot to wait the claim for it.
It is rarely desirable to purchase plates at a strange dealer's shop, and never at a seaside resort, as, owing to their season being a short one, one stands a great risk of the plates which are sold being stale; and the dark-rooms which are placed at the disposal of purchasers wherein to change plates are often far from b^ing ideal, streaks of white light occasionally penetrating through cracks. This means that all plates, films, etc. , will have to be taken with one, and the question of films versus plates will have to be decided. If films have been used previously, and one is thoroughly acquainted with their working, I would recommend that films only be taken, but not otherwise, as it is a great mistake to use them for the first time on a holiday, as the temporary gain as regards lightness will probably be much more than counterbal- anced by the failures owing to errors in judgment as re- gards exposure and development which one generally makes when first experimenting with films.
The advantage to be gained by the use of backed plates is generally acknowledged, and the plates which are taken should either be purchased backed or treated i« this manner before leaving home, as it is almost im- possible to do them when away, owing to the time taken in drying and the great risk of fog which is involved when the plates are left exposed to what may not be an absolutely safe light whilst this operation is being per- formed 1 think, by the way, that it is a pity the plate- makers place such an obstacle in the way of backed plates, being more generally used in regard to the extra price for backed plates as it surely cannot cost anything like sixpence for backing a dozen half-plates when a large number is done at a time
The plate-boxes should be wrapped round with some- thing soft— a sweater, for instance— when packed in the trunk; and flat films must be so placed, preferably near the top of the box, that they are not subjected to too
Copyrighted^ tqoo^ by J, H. McCorkle.
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much pressure, and what pressure there is ought to be evenly distributed. Roll films will carry all right if the spools are left in the box in which they are paqked when purchased.
Development when louring.
It is sometimes recommended that developing ma- terials be taken with one and a few trial exposures made, and the plates developed. I do not see myself that there is very much advantage to be gained in adopting this, as one cannot be so careful when developing in a strange or improvised dark room as to make the trial worth much, and exposures, necessarily, are bound to vary considerably. The better plan is to give a full exposure, and develop carefully and slowly on arrival back home. If one come across a subject which is especially good, two plates should be used with varying exposures, so as to ensure one being good.
If, however, the tour will be extended one and prints arc required to be sent away to friends, a few develop- ing materials will have to be taked These should consist of two or three xylonite dishes, box or tube of compressed developer, and some hypo, and also a folding dark-room lamp. The latter will come in very useful also when changing plates, and will be dealt with under that heading. If developer in tabloid form is used, it should be tried at home first, so that one may have an idea as to how it works.
For prints, either ferro-prussiate paper, which only requires rinsing after printing, or print-out platinum paper may be used. If the latter bs chosen, the hydro- chloric acid needed for fixation should be purchased at each stopping place, as the concentrated acid when well stoppered gives off fumes which act injuriously u|>on most articles of clothing, and the damage which would be done were the bottle to come uncorked would be very considerable.
British Journal of Photogfraphy^-Engfland^ Jaly 20*
Amongst the papers read before the Photo- graphic Convention recently held in England, was one by Dr. P. H. Emerson, which we give here almost in full as worthy of much con- sideration.
^'Bubbles,'" by Dr. ?• PL Emerson.
Some of you may remember **A Study in Gum," by an American, published in Photograms for 1899. It was a rather awkwardly posed girl showing a ** sticky back"; and I hope some can remember a much more per- fect girl's back by Mr. Fellows Wilson in last year's Royal Exhibition. The two portraits will serve well as a com- parison of the bad and the good.
It is now almost universally acknowledged by artists that the one distinctive and precious quality of a good photograph is its delicate gradation (hardly to be equalled by any other black-and-white medium), and its power for certain subjects, of rendering texture.
The study in gum referred to gives us a back that looks as though it suffered from a bad attack of eczema, and yet we are told this is what we are to line up to, that this an advance, that this is art.
Now, before we accept the?e mentors we want a rea-
son (artistic) for changing our opinions. These g^mists may shrug their shoulders and squeak and gibber for ** perfect freedom," and shrilly ejaculate "Art !" but we will not accept such shifty arguments. It is useless cry- ing liberty when there is no liberty. We are hard bound by the mechanical conditions of our craft, and if these workers require that ** perfect freedom' which they are always crying for, let them become artists and adopt media where there is perfect freedom, and leave us poor photographers alone.
Again, some of you may remember the photograph of a quite commonplace '* River Scene at Hampton Court," frame and all. The sail is altogether wrong in value, the water is woolley, and the photograph is as bad a bit of liver scenery as it has ever been my lot to behold. Compare with this the neat little seascape, "Landing Cattle at Morocco," exhibited at the Royal. In this latter we have true values, delicate gradations, unob- trusive forms, fine texture, and no frame.
These examples will serve well to illustrate what a section of the photographic world are giving up for a mere smudge, false in every pictorial essential.
1 may be told these arc not fair examples, but others could easily be produced. In all the best gum work I have seen these essential and fundamental errors abound.
Now, in looking at the examples of fine carpentry or cabinet-making. shall we say, in which these precious daubs are enclosed and afterwards photographed, one is constrained to think that the ideal these amateurs set before themselves is to produce something like a photo- graph of a painting, and they imagine this is progfress, this is art.
All of us, even the youngest, are liable to err, so I was careful to place a number of these g^m- caricatures be- fore one of our best painters. Shall I ever forget the jeering guffaws with which he picked up the prints; and, having been in France a good deal, he said, with a wicked smile. **Ces sont des articles de Pans," for the names of some well-known French daubers were beneath them. Now, it seems to me this **gum" printing is one of the greatest bubbles floated upon the limpid stream of pure photography, or pictorial photography, or whatever name you may be pleased to call it.
Those who would have us sell our birthright for a mess of gum will, I feel confident, never succeed in their object; and, when they talk tons of art, I, for one. will burst into mocking laughter at their solemn pre- tentiousness; and 1 regret to see among their number some who used to glibly talk of ** subtle tonality," ** values," etc.— evidently g^m-paint cant on their part, and I should like to know what the young woman with the sticky, diseased-looking back thinks of the outrage. I'll warrant her back is far more lovely than such a sickly representation of it.
France has given us much in true art to be thankful for; but these bourgeois French photographers make us begin to wonder if the seeds of Philistinism are there, as the seeds of political and social decay are there, and strongly sprouting. As 1 have said elsewhere, at the last Paris Exhibition I could only discover that Scandi- navia had struck any new note in art; and perhaps, after all, art itself in Paris is merely imitating a splendid tra- dition, and so becoming as sterile as its population. Such things have repeatedly happened in the history of
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art; V)ut I, for one, hope fervently that those ridiculous photographic traversities are perpetrated by the unedu cated Philistines of that country, and a French Philis- tine is hard to beat. One of these scribbles a deal and causes us much amusement, and thus adds to the gaiety of nations, and gives such artists as Mr. J. Pennell a fine subject for satire.
To sum up this point; the gum-process destroys tone, texture, and with it values and atmosphere; it makes the result coarse and false, and to look like the photo- graph of a painting— a pis aller, which is merely a rough index of the painting, and which no real artist is satisfied with or cares a toss about, exc<ept merely as a rough and crude memorandum to keep when he has sold his picture; and some prefer a simple pen-and-ink sketch for this purpose. And, lastly, it is handwork, not photography. Another bubble of less pretentious size and less objection is the "dodged printing fake,"
for sometimes that might come true, but it rarely does. I have been greatly amused to read, in a shilling guide to pictorial photography that the greatest care must be taken in selection of the view, and in exposure, etc., so that the values may be true; and straightway he g^ves a ponderous apparatus for "faked printing," and ad- vises the use ot clouds taken with a small aperture, an error I long ago warned the operator against. His advice continues in the same vein, that is, to "sun down " the print, and in his work he does not hesitate, by scraping the film or some other dodge, to make garish high lights. In short, his chapter on print- ing is a pocket encyclopaedia of how to ruin values, and often textures, and all this after telling us to work in the initial stages most carefully in order to secure true values.
Dr. Hurter and Dr. Driffield show us how to do that sci- entifically, so far as exposure and development go, and I
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have endeavored to do it with regard to other matters, and what is the result ? The same issue of Photograms contains a print produced by this ** sun downer," and I ask you frankly, *'Is it art?" It is certainly false in many respects, has a meretriciously deceptive appear- ance to the unwary, and deceives the amateur. But what has the landscape painter to say to it? I showed some of these prints to a great landscape painter, and he simply asked ** why the fellow did them; what was he after ?"
I ask the same question. If pure photography is not good enough or ** high " enough for such as he, by all means let him become an artist, and leave us alone and not try and foist * * fakes " upon us.
1 suppose these fakers appear in all arts — ''ii faui etre dans U nwuventent,'' dear boy; '*must conspire with * notions'"; like the cheap- jack, **when one stock of rubbishy goods fails, must bring out another, old friend," I suppose is the explanation. It's commerce, but is it art? It isn't photography. We all remember a painter who tried the faked photo dodge, using pho- tography as a basis; we all, doubtless, remember what his fellow artists said; and yet he is the prince of photo- fakers, if he care to assume the title; and the poor *' sun downers " are far, far behind him at the game.
I do not suppose you, I, or any sane man cares one brass farthing or the proverbial *' two penn'orth of gin " what our fakers do in the faking line if they only don't pretend to us it is something new, something we are to follow— ** Art, dear boy!" The British public «//7/have the fake of retouching, and the photographer must live; but we should think him an ass did he begin to shout and yahoo that he had found the recipe — the new re- cipe, mind you!— M^ solution of the pictorial photo- graph—in faking.
The appreciator of the giim plaster and photo- faking is, doubtless, the type of scribbler who is responsible for foisting the sickly monstrosities of Aubrey Beardsley upon the unwary public, and for driv-
ing Mr. Whistler abroad, and for causing dishonest dealers to cover old and worthless pictures with white of e%%, and let this dry in cracks to cheat the ignorant, another form of gum-work, in fact.
A painter and I sat down one night to select, from the publication referred to, what we considered the two best photos in it pictorially, and what think you they were? Mr. Tingsley's "Light Beyond" and Mr. Camp- bell's ** Messengers of Death," and, lo! we found the latter was included in the Technical Section. On the other hand, the very worst in the book— to which we adjudged, too, the wooden spoon — was **A Pond at Western Green." which seemed to us to possess every ill that photography is heir to; and this to me was all the more regrettable since the producer of that abominable daub has done some beautiful things in pure photogra- phy and platinotype, and may he renounce false gods and return to the style of his saner days.
There was a time when the great bubble of sharpness enveloped the photographic world, but that has burst, and the explosion thereof seemed to have upset the sanity of some, who have been carried away in the ex- plosion and lost all reason and sense, all tone and texture, those vital and great qualities of photography.
Another bubble that seems to get into the eyes of some of our chemical friends, and which they are con- stantly playing shuttlecock and battledore with, is the "control in development" question. By all sorts of high sounding devices they are constantly telling us how they can modify results, and therefore, say they, P is A, or photography is art. Now, our good chemical friends are the most respectable of men— the fathers of families, the churchwardens— but they have never even yet told us how by stirring up something we can make one specific tone lighter as against another. They give us varied results which have no real bearing on the issue at all; but, until they can tell us how a certain wall (say) is to be made lighter or darker as against a certain other wall, and the rest of the picture to remain in statu quo.
Walter Bertiing.
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they cannot legitimately deduce P is A. or else they are but logically arguing after ihe manner of cause and effect of Tenterden Steeple and the Goodwin Sands.
This is a small matter to them, perhaps, but it is of fundamental importance concerning the point at issue, and Dr. Hurter and Mr. Driffield told me it could not be done; and, until one of our friends does it, I shall con- tinue to say P is not A. and add Q. E. D. after the man- ner of dear old Euclid.
Gtmera Obscura. — HolUtndt July^
This first number of its second year shows that this polyglot magazine has made a decided success. Every month it is brim full of orig:inal articles by the best continental experts, and its pictures are excellent.
Intenstflcatton with Mercufy» by Chapman Jones.
In all methods of intensification with mercuric chlor- ide, the silver image is first bleached with the formation of silver mercurous chloride, and the white image is then treated with some reagent which, by acting on the white compound leaves a dark colored or black substance of useful opacity. It is in the second part of the reaction that the variety of method exists. In the last volume we considered the action of ferrous oxalate, ammonia, and silver potassium cyanide, the three reagents most generally used.
The Action of Sodium Sulphite. — The chemical changes produced by this reagent are far from being so simple as might at first be supposed. The primary change, certainly, gives one half of the silver and a fourth part of the mercury of the silver mercurous chloride in the metallic state as residue to form the image, the remainder of the metals being dissolved. The change is most simply represented thus :
4AgHgCl. = Ag, + Hg -e 2AgCl + aHgCl,.
The chlorides of silver and mercury as products are converted into sulphites by the sodium sulphite and dis- solved as double sulphites: the mercury as mercuric sodium sulphite and the silver sulphite, apparently, in combination with about seven molecules of the sodium salt to each molecule.
This is the primary change, but there are distinct secondary changes that interfere with the regularity of the reaction, (i) The solution of the silver chloride by its conversion into sulphite follows, or at least partly follows, the separation of the metals, if therefore the action of the sulphite of soda is curtailed, a little silver chloride will be left with the metals. (?) If the solution containing the double sulphite of silver and mercury is allowed to remain in contact with the metals, the metallic mercury partly dissolves and precipitates silver from the solution. Therefore a short treatment with sulphite tends to give abnormal density because some silver chloride is left in the image, while a long treat- ment gives a retrograde action giving silver instead of mercury, and so far going back to the original image. These irregularities are fully confirmed by an examina- tion of the eflfect of this method of intensification on the opacity of the negative. It is of the same character as the change produced by ammonia, and silver potassium
cyanide, no appreciable change in the thinner parts and an increasing change as the density of the original increases, though even this description of the effect will not always apply.
The increase of density resulting from the action of sodium sulphite after mercuric chloride is never more than slight, and sometimes nothing at all. Indeed it seems not improbable that the increase, where it does exist, is due to the silver chloride not being completely removed rather than to the primary reaction, for it is difficult to understand why the replacement of half the silver of the original image by less than an equal weight of mercury should give any increase of density at all. And this supposition is borne out by the effect of repeat- ing the treatment of mercury chloride and sodium sulphite on the same plate. The slight intensification effect produced by one treatment is lost by the second, and further repetition of the treatment gives a thinner and thinner image. To sum up, therefore, sodium sulphite, while it certainly is a •* clean" working rea- gent, gives an uncertain and irregular effect and an image that probably always consists partly of silver chloride, and will therefore be almost certain to change on exposure to light.
Action of Sodium Thiosulphate.— This reagent has sometimes been suggested as a follower to mercuric chloride. It differs from sodium sulphite in its effect in two or three ways. Two-thirds of the silver is replaced by meicury instead of only the half. The action may be simply expressed thus:
sHgAgCl, = Ag + Hg -h 2AgCl + 2HgCl,.
The chlorides are of course changed into the soluble double thiosulphates. As with sodium sulphite, the metalic mercury in the residue tends to displace silver from the solution, but in this case the action appears to take place much more readily than in the other. It pro- duces a marked effect even while the primary change is going on. The silver precipitated by the mercury in the presence of the thiosulphate is generally less than the dissolved mercury is able to precipitate, probably because of the energetic solvent acti<m that the thiosulphate has on metallic silver in the presence of air. With the sulphite the silver is in excess, doubtless because of the decomposition of silver sulphite when in solution into sulphuric acid and metallic silver. Sodium thiosulphate therefore gives an uncertain and irregular result, its action is not simple, and it is impossible to regulate the changes that take place to produce a predetermined result.
Aciio.N OF Potassium Cyanide, Am.monium Chloride, AND P0TASSIU.M Chloride. — So far as we are aware none of these reagents have been recommended for practical use in intensification. They give the same division of the metals between the residue and the solution as sodium thiposulphate, shown in the last equation above. Ammonium chloride and potassium chloride act but slighty in the cold though readily enough when warmed, they therefore are useless in practical intensification. Ammonium chloride has been recommended as an addi- tion to the mercuric chloride solution, it is obvious that it is better omitted. Potassium cyanide acts readily in the cold and doubtless would have been recommended for practical use, but that the solvent action in the presence of air, that can be traced in the case of sodium
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Painters Who Have Influenced Me
[September
thiosulphate, is so disasterously great in the case of the cyanide that the negative would thereby be rendered useless. The sulphite and thiosulphate, as we have shown, give very little intensification effect, and that little probably by reason of secondary changes; but the small effect that the cyanide would similarly give is more than compensated for by its solvent action on the metals, so that the practical result of its use is a reduction or thinning of the image and not intensifica- tion.
.Caustic Soda blackens silver mercurous chloride, pro- ducing mercurous oxide and silver oxide. The change is rapid at first and then becomes so slow that even after a prolonged action the chlorine that remains may be sufficient to form silver chloride with half the silver present.
Sodium Carbonate gives an olive green color and finally a slate color with silver mercuric chloride, acting in a manner similar to caustic soda, but a considerable quantity of mercury is dissolved These alkalies are obviously exceedingly unfit for use in practical intensifi- cation.
We therefore close as we began by stating that ferrous oxalate is the only reagent that can be used with confi- dence as a follower to mercurous chloride, It is the only reagent that gives a simple and definite result, the only practical reagent that does not falsify the gradation, and the only reagent that g^ves an optical result that can be foretold or a result from which the nature of the negative before intensification can be calculated.
painters who have influenced me
BY MR. J. CRAIG ANNAN. [A Lecture Delivered before the Leeds Camera Club.]
M'
R. CRAIG ANNAN said: "Greatly to my relief I am asked to speak to-night not on a technical photo- graphic subject, but upon painters as they have impressed me. x\nd until I commenced the preparation of this lecture, and attempted to define my opinions, I scarcely realized what the justifications for my predilec- tions were. Of course, they are matters of per- sonal sentiment, but it is a subject in which, fortunately, each may feel for himself. At first I was overwhelmed with the formidable array of masters, of every age and nationality, in whose work I had found interest and delight — Rem- brandt, with his marvellous power of expres- sion, his mastery of light and shade and com- position, and his glowing golden color (here a slide of * The Syndics ' was shown). Franz Hals, overflowing with the love of life, and express- ing it in such large, masterly way, suggesting that his greatest works are but play to him, and that behind all he has an enormous reserve force (here a slide of * The Banquet of the Arch- ers of St. Adrian' was projected). Then there
is Velasquez, with his simple work, full of dig- nity and style and character, his delightful series of Philip IV. portraits showing in each how a somewhat feeble countenance may lend itself to masterly portrayal; his portraits of admirals, councillors, and ecclesiastics, all pro- viding a world of inspiration. Then one must think of the Italian painters— of Titian, whose great religious pictures are worlds beyond the the scope of photography, but whose portraits excite one to delight in their wonderful com- bination of simplicity of pose and effect, with their gorgeousness of color (an example from the Pitti Palace was shown). Tintoretto also delights us with his taste and power, as in his celebrated 'Miracle of St. Mark,* at Venice; whilst Giorgione intoxicates us with the glory of color. Botticelli, too, charms our fancy with his exquisite imaginings, his ethereal creatures who float before us in such lovely lines, spiritu- elle in the extreme; but those angel forms will never impress a photographic plate (here Botti- celli's "Spring" was shown on the screen). More real is the work of Andrea del Sarto. His portrait of * A Young Man,' in our own National Gallery, has always impressed me as the per- fection of what a photograph might be. And when I saw his work in Italy some years ago, I was impressed again and again with what I may call its photographic possibilities.
" Passing to Germany, we have Nuremburg's Albert Diirer, who surprises us with his versa- tility (here a slide of the * Melancholia ' was shown, and its qualities pointed out). Then in our own country what a group of masters we had in Reynolds, Gainsborough, Romney, and Raeburn, and, before them, though not of our own nationality, we had Sir Anthony Vandyke, courtier as a man and as a painter; and still a century before him, that prince of painters, whom, in my opinion, it might benefit photog- raphers more than any other to study — Hans Holbein.
"And here, in the preparation of my lecture, I discovered I had omitted all mention of land- scape painters. But I was forced to the con- clusion that there had been no unjustifiable neglect, inasmuch as I had had my greatest pleasure in the works of the masters of por- traiture I have mentioned. Although I have enjoyed and appreciated Hobbema, and Ruys- dael. Wouverman, Corot, Diaz, and the Barbizon School, Constable, Turner, and the landscape portion of the Italian masters' pictures, yet my supreme pleasure has always been in the por-
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Painters Who Have Influenced Me
427
trait work of the masters. Although I appreciate that these are impossible to the photographer, still he must not pass them by. To a lesser extent, this impossibility holds good with landscape work ; still, the necessity of photo- graphing what is there, with only the power of selecting point of view, is there to the man who has revelled in the grand massive compositions of Constable and the tumultuous delights of Turner.
" In portraiture the subject is more under command. We have choice of subject, dress, light, and pose, and one cannot help feeling that our difficulties are not insuperable, and that, with the advent of some real master, a photographic portrait may be produced which will take its place in the world's art treasures.
" The many qualities of oil paintings may only be em- bodied in part in photography, and, of photography's weak- nesses, a marked one is the impossibility of obtaining an impasto effect — even the ac- cepted artistic monochrome processes have this in common. Photographers have tried to vary the texture of their prints, but whichever they choose, it is the same in shadow and high light, and there is an entire impossibility of showing intention in this direction.
" The question of how much we ought to be influenced by any master, and where the line of legitimate influence must be drawn needs con- sideration. If the producer of the picture has been deeply influenced by a certain great mas- ter, it is a credit and an honor to him to be able to follow the working of the master's mind, so that his own, the student's, work is a digest of it, and not a mere superficial imitation or copy. Such a copy — an undisguised plagiarism — con- demns the produce itself; but to be influenced in a legitimate way is quite another matter, for without influence we should be back among the cave-dwellers, and the most daring and
LKAPLCSS WOODS.
W,J. Mullins.
original of us would be scratching a rude re- semblance of his dog upon the sand before his dwelling.
'* I advise a study of the great masters' work, and if one has not opportunities of seeing it, then the admirable reproductions now possible are the best substitute. If you have the proper receptive faculty, an impression will be made, which may appear to pass away, but which is only treasured up for the future."
The lecturer then dealt exhaustively with Hans Holbein, his life and work, and illustrated his points by many lantern slides, notably a series prepared from those magnificent sketches now in the possession of Her Majesty. He spoke of his visit to England, and of his friendship with Erasmus and vSir Thomas More; pointing out how admirable a lesson in all his work Hol- bein taught to us to-day.
" The reasons I have given for my great in-
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Painters Who Have Influenced Me
[September
terest in Holbein, as a photographer, apply in almost every particular to the works of Velas- quez and Vandyke. Velasquez is my second favorite; but many consider him the finest of all portrait painters, and his influence on Whistler and contemporary art has been very great (here a slide of 'Admiral Adrian Parlido/ in the National Gallery, was shown, and its qualities of grandeur of pose, dignity of com- position, and feeling of sumptuousness were pointed out, and a comparison was made be- tweetn the style of Holbein, a German burgher, and Velasquez, a noble of Spain) For Velas- quez was a man of gentle blood on either side, and his high spirit and that of his race is evi- dent in his work, and in the portrait of Due Olivaris (shown on the screen) he seems to have revelled in his sumptuous imagination. The ease and grace of his swinging curves show it to be a natural expression of a joyous, noble nature." The lecturer then gave details of the life of Velasquez, and showed various examples of his work, especially the portrait of Don Carlos, brother of Philip IV., with its effect of grandeur, produced by allowing a strong light to fall upon the floor, casting a deep shadow from the lower part of the figure.
Velasquez was a marvelous draughtsman, and in the "Forge of Vulcan" (shown on the screen), one of his earlier pictures, we see with what power and breadth of effect he C9ul4 paint the human figure, whilst his capacity for group- ing, and genius for decorative effect, is admira- bly displayed in "The »Surrender of Breda." Walter Armstrong, in his "Art of Velasquez." says: "*The Surrender of Breda' has long been accepted as the finest historical picture in
existence; I feel inclined to call it the only one which gives unalloyed delight." Dealing fur- ther with Velasquez, Mr. Craig Annan showed how, like Holbein, he delighted in and painted successfully all types, and he illustrated this by various slides.
Then speaking of Sir Anthony Vandyck, bom in 1599, the same year as Velasquez, he described his style as scarcely being as strong as the latter. "We feel that he painted more to please and flatter. Both men were courtiers; but I doubt whether Vandyck would ever have dared to differ with his monarch as Valasquez occasionally did. In Vandyck's picture, how- ever, there is an easy grace and refined charm from which we may draw infinite pleasure and instruction." Instances were then given of Vandyck's work, and as each were thrown on the screen, Mr. Craig Annan dealt with their characteristics. Afterwards he showed a slide of the famous "Alexander Dillafaille" portrait at Brussels, almost reminding one of Hals in its spirit and abandonment, and concluded with the delightful group of the "Children of Charles I." " How simple and natural they ap- pear," said the lecturer, "standing together in a row, and how the apparent lack of posing is really the greatest posing of all. Ars est celere artejnf Note how the figures, too, almost fill the canvas, without any sense of crowding, and how strong and powerful the picture is, whilst the subjects themselves retain all their childish- ness and innocence.
" Now I am sure your patience is getting ex- hausted, so I shall conclude by expressing the hope that what I have said may help you in the future in your study of such pictures, and in your photographic work."
H'aiter Bert it nj^.
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Intensification or Redevelopment
INTENSIFICATION OR REDEVELOPMENT.
BY HENKY F. RAESS
THE NEW Ydh^ft
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
A8TO«, LSNOx AND jnLDEN FOUNDATIONS.
LIOHTHOUSE.
Ph. V. Schoelltr,
PERFECT negative, of course, needs no intensifi- cation, but it is not often that we are so fortunate as to make one. Nega- tives which are under- exposed and lack detail, or over-ex- posed and flat, or even under-developed, may all be improved by judici- ous intensification. The ** stain, "as it is often called by photographers, constituting the image in the film, consists of finely-divided metallic silver, and the intensification adds to the density and contrast of the negative. To accomplish this, many methods have been de- vised ; they are all, as far as the writer knows, chemical. The theory of intensification is better than the practice, because the clear or transparent portions of the negative will ulti- mately become as dense as the other parts of the negative, so that the plate, wet (collodion) or dry (gelatine) can be intensified only four or five times. As mentioned before, there are many methods for intensifying, but I shall briefly mention a few only; some are better for dry plates, and others again give better results on wet plates. They all consist, with possibly one or two exceptions, of converting the silver into some compound with another element or elements, metallic or non-metallic, and then reducing the silver compounds (and other metallic compounds, if present) — that is, converting them into the metallic condition. Reducing, in the chemical sense, is different from that in the photographic. The intensi- fying methods may be divided into four classes ; the order in which the classes follow has no bearing on the relative merits of the various processes.
FIRST CLASS.
Converting the Silver and Added Metal into Some
Dark Compound.
The silver is converted into the chloride by the action of mercufic chloride (HgCl,) ; this suffers partial decomposition, with the forma- tion of insoluble silver chloride (AgCl) and mercurous chloride (Hg^Cl^); both are white compounds. These can be darkened by the application of ammonium hydroxide (NH^OH), or sodium sulphite (Na^SOg), or the alkaline sulphides, as sodium (Na^S), potassium (KgS), or ammonium ((NH4)2S), or potassium silver- cyanide (KAg(CU)2); these different darken- ing agents form variable compounds, with the exception of potassium silver-cyanide. These methods cannot be used if the plate requires more than one intensification. The silver can be converted into the bromide (AgBr) with cupric bromide (CuBr,), made by adding a solution of potassium bromide (KBr) to a solution of cupric sulphate (CUSO4), and after the plate has been whitened, it is blackened with a solution of silver nitrate (AgNOg) ; this intensifier works better with wet, than with dry plates. Lead ferricyanide (Pb3Fe2(CU) , g) can also be used ; this is made by mixing solu- tions of lead nitrate (Pb(N03)2) with potassium ferricyanide (KgFe,(CN),,); the lead ferri- cyanide is partially reduced with the formation of silver ferrocyanide (Ag4Fe(CN)g), and lead ferrocyanide (Pb,Fe(CN)g); the plate may be blackened with ammonium sulphide ; this con- verts the silver into a sulphide (Ag^S), also the lead (PbS). This method is much used by photo-engravers on wet plates. A developer containing no potassium bromide can also be used ©n dry plates instead of the ammonium sulphide. The methods so far mentioned are those forming dark compounds and requiring two solutions. I shall now describe two methods requiring one solution, and later a third method also requiring one solution, but belonging to a different class (third class). A solution of potassium iodide (KI) is added to a solution of mercuric chloride until no more precipitate forms; then a solution of sodium thiosulphate (NagS^Og) is added until the pre- cipitate of mercuric iodide (Hgig) has dis- solved. This solution is somewhat diluted.
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Intensification or Redevelopment
[September
the plate placed in this, and allowed to remain until the proper density is gained. When using this method, it is difficult to prevent yellow stains. All, or almost all, one-solution inten- sifiers on the market are made in this way, excepting possibly the new intensifier **Agfa." This contains mercuric thiocyanate (Hg (CNS)g). Many advantages are claimed for this intensifier, but the writer has not had an opportunity to test it. Whether this intensifier forms dark compounds, or precipitates metals, is not known to the writer.
SECOND CLASS.
CONVRRTING THE SiLVER AND AdDED MeTAL INTO THE
Metallic Condition.
After the silver has been converted into the chloride by means of mercuric chloride, the compounds are then reduced to the metallic condition by the application of strong reducing agents, as a developer. This method can be repeated several times, and gives fairly per- manent results.
THIRD CLASS.
This is the Precipitation of Metallic Silver onto THE Silver in the Film — This is a One- Solution Method.
To a solution of citric acid is added some **pyro'* and some silver nitrate solution. The plate is placed in this bath until the required density is gained. This method gives perma- nent results.
FOURTH CLASS.
In this Class the Silver is Replaced by a Denser Metal, as Gold or Platinum.
Gold chloride (AuClj), or the chlorides of platinum (PtCl^) (or KjPtCl4), are used in this method. This method has not been tested by the writer. All, or almost all, methods of in- tensification add to the contrast of the nega- tive. If there is too much contrast, it may be reduced by using ammonium persulphate (NH4)8S20g); or if contrast is agreeable, use a mixture of potassium ferricyanide and sodium thiosulphate solutions What are the results of all these experiments? They have proved that there are many ways of obtaining the
same ends. Some of these methods give per- manent results ; others, though not so lasting, are better for certain purposes; and we choose accordingly. The method used by the writer at the present time is the result of four years' experimenting; it is a two-solution method. With all intensification methods, there is always the danger of yellow stain. To reduce this trouble as much as possible, two things are necessary — complete fixation and thorough washing, say, one hour in running water. The negative should then be allowed to dry, as dry- ing toughens the film. When placed in a solu- tion of mercuric chloride made up as follows :
500 c.c. Water 10 ozs.
7.8 gm. Mercuric chloride 120 gr.
7.8 gm. Ammonium chloride 120 gr.
The ammonium chloride (NH^Cl) increases the solubility of the mercuric chloride. This solution can be used until it refuses to work any longer. The plate is allowed to remain in this bath until the back is white ; it must then be washed for at least a half hour. The negative is then placed in a new or old de- veloper containing little or no potassium bro- mide. The tray should be slightly rocked at first. The negative will slowly assume a disagreeable yellowish-brown color, becoming very dense, and with little contrast. Grad- ually the plate changes color, becomes clearer, and contrast increases. The intensification is complete when the back of the plate is black by reflected light, and the deposit bluish-black by transmitted light. The negative must be washed again for a short time to remove the oxidized developer — it may stain. If necessary, the operation may be repeated, in which case great care should be taken to carefully wash between all operations, and drying after each intensification, if necessary, to prevent frilling. If more than one plate is to be intensified at the same time, and the tray only large enough to hold one plate, only enough developer should be used to blacken the plate, after which it is thrown away. It is well to keep a bottle on hand to hold old developer for this purpose, but **pyro*' must not be used; even if per- fectly fresh, it will stain.
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The offices of the Times have been removed to 3 and 5 West 19th Street, New York. We shall be glad to welcome any of our friends and readers.
Our Book-illustrating Competition closes September ist, but entries recei\red during the first week of the month will still be entered. There promises to be a large number of entries, and we believe the work will rank high.
The American Annual for 1901 will be pub- lished October ist this year. We have en- deavored to make this book one of unusual merit, and believe that we have succeeded. Every style of work is represented, and all the best pictures of the year are faithfully reproduced.
Advertisers, and more especially those of photographic materials, are prone to take price and circulation only into consideration when figuring on space in the photographic journals, as a recent issue of C. A. Bates' Current Ad- vertising says :
But there is a great deal more than circulation— cir- culation meaning the number of copies printed and dis- tributed—to be taken into consideration. If it were simply a question of the number of copies printed and distributed to buyers, or even to readers, or even to possi- ble readers, almost anybody could make advertising pay.
The man who has a legitimate business to advertise, can buy .space in publications, the number of circulated copies of which are unquestioned, which are demon- strated by the publishers beyond any question of doubt, but they do not pay all advertisers all the time, and in fact they do not pay any advertisers all the time.
If there is any one thing that can be definitely proved about advertising, if it is a science as some claim, this seems to demonstrate at least one fact, that there is something more to it than mere number of copies printed and distributed.
But every advertiser, who has been long in the busi- ness, knows all this, or should know it. He knows, or should know, that two or three things outside the num- ber of copies printed by the publication, which he uses, are essential to the success of his advertising, and the first and the most important of all these is the relation
existing between the publication and its readers. One thousand copies of a publication of any kind, monthly, weekly, or daily, which has a standing with its readers, which is welcomed by its reader-s as a personal friend, which is known to be accurate in the information which it gives, which has obtained that circulation by clean- handed, straight-forward methods, and without the use of chromo inducements, is worth more than a million circulation of a publication which is glanced at, then sold to the waste-paper dealer. Such a publication, even if it is read and read pretty thoroughly, is read for the moment's amusement only, and what is read, is the next moment forgotten.
The most important thing in the purchasing of ad- vertising space is the ability to judge the character of a circulation, and this is what the advertisers and pub- lishers need to get together on.
Any publication which is sold by newsboys on the street, or which is sent out miscellaneously to purchased names, is in a way forced on the public, and such a pub- lication, never mind how well edited or how interesting in character, loses a great part of its value to the man who advertises in it. It is the publication which is sought for and voluntarily subscribed for by the reader, or regularly purchased, which is delivered regularly to him, to his house, or to his office, or bought by him regularly at an established newstand, or that to obtain requires a sacrifice of some kind, that gives to tlie advertiser the best value for his money.
Each publication mu.st set its own standard of value, and the advertiser who would be successful must be able to determine in each individual case whether that stand- ard IS accurate or not. No man has ever yet made a great big advertising success by working on the theory that circulation is worth so much per thousand, regard- less of all else, and no advertiser ever will make such a success until all people are alike and all publications are alike.
The Clipper Camera Mfg. Co. of Minneapolis, Minn., were among the new exhibitors at the Milwaukee Con- venion. They make a Holder for clamping down the form, while print is being cut, also a Rotary Gauge Trimmer for cutting ovals.
The Trimmer can be set to cut a number of difl"erent sizes from one form, and has many improvements over others, one of the best is, that the wheel cannot cut into the form.
These articles proved energetic sellers and were the talk of the Convention. They are sold by all dealers in regular photo goods.
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Vol. XXXII.
POUR DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
0
OCTOBER, 1900.
Number lo.
SINQLB COPIES, 38 CBNT8.
Photographic
TinES
TAS
^An-Illustrated
Monthly-Aagazine
devoted-to-the-
interests-of-
artistic£rscientific'
Fhotography
JUi
THE-PHOTOGRAPHIC-TIA\ES-PUBLISHING^
i QQf\n A TTi^XT _ -5 1 MK r _ urccT -i nxn ct xTCTir xmimr
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CONTENTS
PAGB
Frontispiece— By Ben Yusuf.
Photographing * 'Afoot " — By David Gray Archibald 433
** Like Papa Does" — By W. Blackburn— Illustration 433
Illustration— Bv Walter Bertlinjg. 434
Action of Lignt on Silver Chloride — By Romyn
Hitchcock 434
Moonlight— By F. C. Baker— Illustration 435
Intensification and Toleration — By John R. Coryell. 436
Illustration— By J. H. McCorkle 437
Sunset— By F. C. Baker— Illustration 438
Temple of the Caryatides, Acropolis, Athens — By
John Bushbv — Illustration 439
Copvright and the American Photographer 439
BacKed Plates 441
Evening Prayers— By Virginia Prall — Illustration. . 442 An Onyx Cave of the Ozarks— By E. M. Miller —
Illustrated. 443
My Photographic BSte Noir — By Fatty Nitza 443
Portrait of a Lady — By John Thompson — Illustra- tion 444
Illustration— By Walter Bertling 445
How to Gauge Light and Shade— By A. B. Gardner 446
A Powerful Developer 446
A Simple and Efficient Reducer 446
The Gtun-Bichromate Process 446
Evening, Baie St. Michael— By M. Tuke Tyler- Illustration 447
Our Monthly Digest 448
Illustration — By Frank Eugene 449
Marshland — By John Carpenter — Illustration 450
Preparing Dinner — By Henry Galoupeau— Illustra- tion 1 451
Daughters of the Hon. Mrs. M.— By John Thomp- son— Illustration 452
Where Troubles End— By W. S. Clow— Illustration 453 **Now was the Day Departing" — By Geo. W. Nor-
ris — Illustration 454
Illustration— By John Thompson 455
Illustration— By Walter Bertling 456
Illustration— By Zaida Ben Yusuf 457
The Reader— By Edmund Stirling— Illustration... 458
PAGB
The Use of Formalin— By H. Van Beek 458
Unfriendly Criticism— By H. A. Beasley 459
The Diver — By Louis Meldon— Illustration 459
Some Picturesque California Roads — By Geo. C.
Meeker — Illustration 460
Picturesque California — By Geo. C. Meeker — Illus-
tration 461
A Cafion Road — By Geo. C. Meeker — Illustration.. 463 A Picturesque Road — By Geo. C. Meeker — Illustra- tion 463
Some Thoughts on Lantern-Slide Making— By
Prescott Adamson 463
The Widow's Patch — By Rudolph Eickemeyer, Jr.
— Illustration 465
The Haymakers— By T. J. Preston, Jr. — Illustration 467
Toning with the Brush— By J. Raphaels 468
Congressional Library— By J. C. Vail— Illustration. 468 Lantern Slide Making for Beginners — By ** Prim- rose Hill " 469
•• The Captain "—By H. A. Beasley— Illustration. . . 469 A Rustic Bridge— By H. A. Beasley— Illustration. . . 469 A Century Old— By M. Dec'enhardt — Illustration.. . 470 Returning from the Fields— By Rudolph Eicke-
meyer, Jr. — Illustration 471
Harvard Camera Club 47a
Editorial Notes 472
An Old Salt — By Greo. Hankins — Illustration 473
Young White-Bellied Nuthatches— By Wm. E. Car-
lin— Illustration 474
Roderick — By T. M. Edminson — Illustration 474
••Children of the Ghetto "—By Maximilian Toch—
Illustration 475
Notes and News 476
The Last Glow— By T. J. Preston. Jr.— Illustration. 476 The Stream — By Prescott Adamson — Illustration. . . 477
The Editor's Table 478
" When the Flowing Tide Comes In "—By H. A.
Beasley— Illustration 478
Thoughts of Other Days— By Rudolph Eickemeyer,
Jr.— Illustration 179
The Photographic Times Record 480
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A PORTRAIT or MISS FLORENCE KAHN BY BEN-VU5UF.
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Vol. XXXII.
OCTOBER, 1900.
photcx;raphing ^afoot.^
BY DAVID GRAY ARCHIBALD.
Ji
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
A8TO«t, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIOHt.
10.
WANT to put in a lea for photo- graphing while walking. We see it stated very often that you can successfully photograph while wheel- ing, and that **such-and- such" a camera is so light and m be so easily carried, or that **this- or-that" carrier will hold the camera with safety upon a wheel. These statements are usually given along with glowing accounts of what a complete photographic record of your trips you will make, working under such conditions. What we are shown (the true test of it all) by most of those who photograph while wheeling are views taken many miles apart, and too often around some place where a stop has been made for luncheon, or dinner, or to spend the night : which places of all places are the least likely to have really good pictures clustered about them.
IV. Blackburn.
In a degree, the same thing holds true of photographing while riding through the country in carriages ; again it is great lengths of ground traversed and only a few views to show for or of it.
We know that observant eyes find that pic- tures are not scattered miles apart, and that hotels and taverns are not the favorite gather- ing places of the pictorial.
Pictures have to be sought for in the high- ways and by-ways, and are only to be found by careful looking.
To be able to perceive the beauties of a landscape we must have time to take them in — to absorb them, so to speak. This cannot be done while traveling rapidly over a road with our attention divided between the management of the wheel and the finding of spots to photo- graph. Riding and photographing is dividing the interest, and no one can pay equal attention to two things at the same time and do both well. But, ** afoot," we are at perfect ease and liberty to stop and to study and to go as slow as we like.
I think almost anyone will acknowledge that there are many roads abounding in pictures (wheelmen and drivers have to keep to the road), and that often a dozen excellent views can be had within a distance of a few hundred feet, but how many will say that the average
Copyright, xgoo, by The Scovill & Adams Co. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y. Post Office.
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434
Action of Light on Silver Chloride
[October
IVa/ter Bertling,
wheelman will make a dozen stops in even a dozen hundred feet for the purpose of picture taking ? Will he take the time necessary to set up his camera, to focus his lens, to expose his plate, etc., and then readjusting his camera with its belongings upon his wheel, ride only a few feet and do the same thing over again ? Not many will do this. They would rather — much rather — ^let the second view go for another time, hoping to see a better one farther on.
Thus they lose opportunities that may never come again ; for the light may be different, or the tree may be in blossom and thereby obstruct- ing the view, or Oh ! a thousand and one
things may happen in the meantime that will make us pass the place again without seeing any especial beauty.
To sum up, my plea is simply : Photograph when you photograph, drive when you drive, wheel when you wheel, but (if you are serious in photographing) do not deceive yourself into thinking that you can do all these things well at one and the same time. As to the wheel,
it is a most happy aid to getting to"your ground and of finding new ground that is worthy of the trouble of going to again, but as a thing to photograph from — all I can say is — I have never seen the results claimed, photographically produced. Have you ?
ACTION OF LIGHT ON SILVER CHLORIDE.
BY ROMYN HITCHCOCK.
THIS subject has been treated by many writers and for many years the question was debated, owing to the widely discrepant results of analy- ses, whether there was decomposition caused by the action of light upon silver chloride attended with a loss of chlorine. Some investi- gators maintained that there was no loss of chlorine, because they could not detect it with the balance, although the odor of chlorine is distinctly perceptible when the compound is exposed to light. The present writer succeeded in not only de-
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Action of Light on Silver Chloride
435
tecting the loss, but in determining its amount, by the exposure of exceedingly thin films of pure chloride to the action of sunlight during a considerable period of time. The details of these experiments are given in published arti- cles. (American Chemical Journal^ Vols. XI. and XIII.)
It is interesting in this connection to refer to the early investigations of Dr. J. W. Draper, who, by an ingenious method was also able to weigh the loss of chlorine. Later experi- menters were unable to confirm the results because they neglected to consider the obvious facts, which were clearly recognized and stated by Dr. Draper.
In an exceedingly val- uable and comprehen- sive paper, published in the Journal of the Franklin Institute in 1837, entitled ** Experi- ments on Solar Light," Dr. Draper wrote as follows :
"These changes which these bodies ex- perience are of different kinds, some become black, and some bleach ; some, as the sulphate of nickel, undergo change of cr}'staline arrange- ment. If we are to take the chloride of silver as a type of those bodies in this list, which un- dergo partial reduction, moon light. it will be found prob- able that the change impressed on them is only superficial, as analysis will show. But we cannot tell with certainty whether a perfect reduction of some of these compounds takes place or whether it is a subsalt of a dark gray color that results. By taking advantage of the property which chloride of silver possesses of subsiding very slowly from neutral solutions so as to make them assume a milky consistency, we may present it in a state extremely favora- ble to the action of the solar ray. For if a thick mass alone be exposed the central parts will not undergo the same change as the exterior, being shielded by them from the sun. A milky solution like this will, after an exposure for a
certain time, become quite clear, the chloride precipitating owing to the liquid becoming acidulous. Mechanical agitation being then resorted to, to expose fresh surfaces of the pre- cipitate to the sun very frequently during a period of eight or ten days, and care being taken to suffer no dust or other impurity to enter the vessel, it will be found that the powder has become of a reddish gray, interspersed with little particles of unchanged white chloride; these, from their superior density, will have precipitated more readily than the gray parti- cles; washing and decantation will therefore readily effect a perfect separation of them. One hundred grains of the dark chloride thus treated will yield an analysis 79.3 of metallic silver, that quantity con- tains therefore 20.7 of chlorine, it has lost then by exposure 5 3 grains of chlorine of the quan- tity originally contained in it.
"Other analyses of the same sample fur- nished results not widely varying from this, but such is not the case with analyses of different samples; these give sometimes more, some- times less, chlorine. They prove that the chloride of silver, as darkened by light, is not a definite compound, but rather a mechanical mixture ; that the change of composition is chiefly confined to the surface, and does not affect the in terior of the particles to any extent ; it is true that microscopic observation shows them to have an uniform consistency and color, but of course reveals nothing of their internal character. An error is frequently made by writers who describe the changes happening in this partial reduction; it is not, as they say, hydrochloric acid which is evolved when the chloride is under water, but it is chlorine, as is made very evident by the strong disagreeable odor of that gas when the experiment is con- ducted in close vessels."
F. C. Baker,
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Intensification and Toleration
I October
My own investigations fully confirm the con- clusions of Dr. Draper, showing, however, a considerably larger separation of chlorine, amounting to 8.5 per cent., which was to be anticipated owing to the difference in pro- cedure.
It will be observed that these experiments do not afford the slightest support to any of the hypotheses put forward from time to time, as to the complex chemical composition of the " invisible image." There is no evidence what- ever of the formation of an oxychloride, for example; indeed the evidence is evidently against it. It is even reasonably in doubt if the undeveloped image is a product of decomposi- tion of any kind. The visible image produced by the continued action of light is a result of chemical change. But such an image can be produced on a daguerreotype plate, and doubt- less the old workers were right when they assumed that there was merely a separation of the haloids from the silver by the action of light.
When we go back to the investigation of pure silver haloids we may discover the nature of the developable image, but it seems a hopeless task when we have organic compounds to com- plicate the problem.
JNTENSmCATION AND TOLERATION.
BY JOHN R. CORYELL.
OUT of the twelve persons who have come to the farm-house in Vermont this summer, four had cameras; and it was my good fortune to witness a series of the most charming of photographical tableaux. That I did not perpetuate some of them in en- during platinotype is due to the fact that my own camera — making the fifth in the house — was never taken from its place of concealment in my trunk.
Four cameras and not one tripod! Three of the ladies were young, and the fourth had the manner of it. All were enthusiasts in photog- raphy; and if I may express myself paradoxi- cally, they represented different degrees of ignorance, perhaps, but only one degree of pho- tographic knowledge — which was utter ignor- ance. Photography with them meant nothing but thumb pressure; and good pictures were a mere matter of proportion — say one to one hundred exposures.
One of them would cry out at any or no provo-
cation: ** Oh, what a lovely picture that would make!" Click! as if it were a bird on the wing; followed by a chorus of approval and of clicks. One day as the party from the house was on its way to the bathing pool, clad in the strange and varied garments that had been pressed into ser- vice for the summer, the youngest of the young ladies cried out: "Oh, I must!" and ran for her camera forthwith. To say that the party submitted to be photographed even under those circumstances is to understate the fact; they laughed with the delight of it. ** Now you take my place and let me get a photograph," cried each one of the quartette in turn until four exposures had been made.
The sun was in the eyes of the party, of course; the grouping was made by chance; the background was the blue sky with a fence rail cutting the bodies at right angles; the fore- ground was chiefly white garments bleaching on the grass. The photographers had a delight- ful time, and so did everybody else. More pictures were taken at the pool, and the more grotesque the subject the more eagerly was it taken. Each photographer took each picture, and repeated it day after day. And they all had a lovely time. The returns are not in yet, but no one need doubt that when they do come they cannot be too hideous, cannot be such bad specimens of photography as to mar the delight of the numerous friends >yho will gather about them all through the winter to laugh at their absurdities, and applaud themselves at discov- ering the identity of any of the counterfeit pre- sentments.
Now, since I have been a photographer, I have read many publications on photography, and I may almost say that each new one has something abusive, scornful, derisive, belittle- ing, or generally unkind to say about the snap- shooter, as if the person who played with photography were doing something wrong. I found myself instinctively in such an attitude toward my fellow-boarders, and detected my- self listening to their rapturous talk with a lofty disdain. Then, one day, I asked myself why ? according to a habit I am trying to foster in myself, and I found no good answer. There is no good reason why one million peisons in this great country should not amuse themselves by taking snap-shots of all possible and impossi- ble subjects. As an amusement it is certainly innocent, and may safely be indulged in by good citizens. Then why not cease to abuse the snap-shooter ?
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Intensification and Toleration
[October
If it were the cause of the snap-shooter that I was pleading — supposing him to need my assistance, which he emphatically does not, car- ing less than nothing for all the strictures that are passed upon him — I could go on and make out a proper case for him, but I am in fact only pleading for general toleration, for less extrava- gance of expression, for more reduction and less intensification, to use the term of photog- raphy.
Speaking for myself, I grudge the space given to diatribes against those who differ in opinion or practice, and I beg the writers on photographic subjects to concern themselves more with exposition and less with scolding. I admit that scolding is far easier than exposi- tion, but it is infinitely less useful, and is so wearisome for such of us as to have much to learn, and who eagerly read whatever is written in the hope of finding helpful ideas.
The world is not ceasing its labors and standing breathless to witness the conflict that is raging, or which seems to be raging, around the Camera Club of New York, for example. The world cares nothing about the opinions of this worker in photo- graphy or that one; it gives very little thought to the differences be- tween the impressionists and realists in painting, •uhsit. even. Why concern it- self about photography then ? The arena, where the battle is raging, is full, but the tiers of seats are empty. Why go on hurling oppro- brious epithets at each other when not alone the world, but even photographers turn wearily away, wondering, most of us, of what conse- quence it is how this worker or that secures his results, when for us the problems still are how to properly expose, how best to develop, what paper to use in printing, how to so trim as to make the best of the picture we have.
I do not wish to appear as taking the position
that knowing how to expose, develop, print, and trim, is the omega as well as the alpha of pho- tography. But certainly if one means to learn the alphabet, alpha is a good starting place. And if I object to scolding, I do not object to criticism, nor to such clever fooling as that of A. Smiler, for example; in truth I object to nothing but ill-natured volubility, which, alas! is usually delivered from a pedestal of self- satisfied ignorance.
From the little I have already learned I know that photography contains stores of delight and interest for him who will explore it; and representing the ignorant laity, as I do, I beg the high priests — whether self-appointed or otherwise — to teach us more and scold each other less. I have a feeling that just as soon as I am a master of my photographic tools, I shall be able to make pictures according to any school; always ex- cepting that school which demands as a prerequisite that gift of the gods, an artistic nature. Of course I know that if I had not an artistic nature I shall not be able to produce, of design, artistic pic- tures, nor appreciate them when produced by others.
And as we of the majority have not the artistic temperament to enable us to make great pictures through our medium, nor the sensitiveness to feel hurt by the product of him who believes he is of the min- ority, therefore we beg, believing that we are they who buy and read the current literature of photography, that we may be more con- sidered in the making up of the journals we support.
This is all, and now I am moved to look down at my metaphorical feet. Am I on a pedestal ? And if I am, what is the said pedestal com- posed of? Well! the material is not of the self- satisfied brand, anyhow. And I am in love with photography.
F. C. Baker.
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Copyright and the American Photographer
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TKMFLK OP THC CARYATIOIS, ACROFOLIt. ATHINS.
John Buihby.
COPYRIGHT AND THE AMERICAN PHOTCXJRAPHER.
The followinsf article has been forwarded tis by Mr. Falk, a member of the Photographers' Copyright League, and we have thought It well to reproduce it in full as the matter S% one of importance to photographers, the amateur no less than the professionaL In fact, to the amateur the question of copyright should be of more vital interest than to the professional, for^ outnumbering the professional, as the amateur does, and supplying the larger part of magazine and newspaper illustrations, he of all people should see to it that he is protected in his rights and obtains what he is entitled to for his work*
Unfortunately under the present law, the publisher is often made the victim of blackmailers. An editor unwittingly uses a copyright picture without permission, and he is promptly made the defendant in a suit for hundreds of dollars damages whereas permission could have been obtained on payment of two or three dollars in the first instance. This seems totally unjustifiable. The present copyright laws protect neither the author nor the publisher and proper co-operation to secure improved legislation is urgently needed.— The Editor.
THE American photographer, as a rule, is keenly appreciative toward any movement which promises him an advantage in business. The growth and importance of the State and Na- tional photographic associations are practical evidences of his earnestness in seeking business success. In his business methods, in his enter- prise, and in his professional ability he easily outstrips his European fellow-professional as we have known him in Germany, France, and Great Britain.
But with all his alertness and progressiveness he has almost completely overlooked a business
advantage which, of all others, he should be the first to perceive and grasp. We refer to his strange apathy concerning photographic copy- right.
In no other country are pictures and illustra- tions so popular or so important a feature in everyday life as in 'America. Illustration is, in fact, universal. The daily and weekly papers, the periodicals, and printed matter of every sort with which we are literally deluged at every turn, depend largely for their interest upon illus- tration. Portraits of prominent people and scenes, pictures which interest as news records or by their pictorial attractiveness, records of in-
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Copyright and the American Photographer
I October
cident and life at home and abroad, in-doors and out-of-doors work and sport, of humor and pathos — all these are sought for, gathered in, and pub- lished far and wide by every conceivable method of reproduction. The public demands pictures, and the public pays for them. But who makes the pictures and who profits by their sale ? Here are two plain questions. Let every photographer answer them for himself, and we are sure of his interest hereafter in the question of photo- graphic copyright.
A glance at any illustrated paper will show that the photographer bears the burden of the public demand for illustrations. Nine-tenths of the pictures published in our newspapers and periodicals are direct reproductions from pho- tographs. In how many instances does the photographer profit by this use of his work? We venture the answer, not in one instance out of ten. Why should he not profit by this use of his work ? If he equips himself for its making, if he produces by his skill something which has salable quality, should he not be the first to profit by his skill and labor ? Does the publisher furnish his paper to the public without money and without price ? Why should the publisher profit by selling the photographer's work, and the photographer be content with " glory "? Does the publisher pay the photographer for the use of his production ? Sometimes, when he is compelled to do so; never, if he can avoid it. Why ? Because the photographer has not yet learned to appreciate the value of his work to the world — its plain matter-of-fact value to those who purvey news of information to the public.
These things are worth thinking over. By availing himself of the protection of copyright the photographer may secure for his own bene- fit certain legitimate profits arising from his business which at present he permits to go to waste, or, rather, to go for the enrichment of other business men who can turn his product into hard cash.
It must not be imagined that we impute any blame to the publisher. As a business man it is his chief interest to get and reproduce what the public will buy. If he can get his materials without cost, so much the more profitable will be his business The mistake lies with the pho- tographer, who is so careless of the sources of income or profit rightly belonging to his busi- ness. The remedy lies in a better appreciation of the advantages of copyright and in a united action to secure these advantages. If it is found
the photographer is not properly protected by copyright laws at present existing — as is, in- deed, the case — there is all the more need for photographers to unite in the effort to secure proper legislation.
We believe that as soon as the American photographer looks squarely at this question of photographic copyright he will perceive its obvious advantages and insist upon his reason- able rights. Therefore, we urge again, as we have urged before, that photographers should enroll themselves as members of the Photographers* Copyright League, and put themselves in touch with the work this League is doing for their benefit and advantage. All that is neces- sary in order to secure this membership is to send a request to be enrolled, with your name and address, to the Secretary of the League, Mr. Charles E. Bolles, 244 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y
The following letters, which we are happily permitted to publish, offer interesting facts supporting what has already been pointed out concerning the practical advantages of copy- right to the photographer:
Waldorf-Astoria, New York,
August 10, 1900. Dear Mr. Abel:
The accompanying letter from Mr. Elliott, senior member of the well-known firm of Elliott & Fry, of London, should open the eyes of American photographers to the unfairness of our present copyright laws and to the practical benefits accruing to the profession when its members stand together for mutual protection, as they do in England. In no other country of the world do the laws make it so difficult for the photographer to protect his work as in this free land of ours; in no other country is it so easy for the pictorial pirate to steal our labor and go unpunished. The supine indifference of photographers to this state of affairs, and the financial loss they thereby incur, must be quite as amusing as it is profitable to the publishers who thrive upon the photographer's work.
Sincerely yours, B. J. Falk.
Hadlev House, Barnet, England, July 24, 1900. My Dear Mr. Falk :
I have to thank you for your kind and inter- esting letter of March 19th, and should have answered it earlier, but hoped to be able to tell you that the new bill that is before Parliament had become law. The committee that is sitting
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on it in the House of Lords has, however (last night), postponed all further action in the mat- ter until next session. In the meantime I am very well contented with the existing state of affairs. Our Photographic Copyright Union, of which I am proud to be the founder, is work- ing well. We met great opposition from the press the first year of its existence, but by con- tinuous fighting and winning some good actions we meet now with no serious opposition. When- ever a newspaper or magazine proprietor or other person wishes to reproduce a copyright photograph he first applies to the proprietor for permission to do so, and pays a minimum fee of half a guinea; if to be reproduced large size, or if it be an important subject, he pays from one guinea to ten guineas for the privilege, though 10^. 6d. is the usual fee.
The following figures will show you that I have done exceptionally well the first half year with copyright fees :
January, 1900 £2^^
February, " 276
March, " 502
April, ** 289
May, " 360
June, ** 283
;^2004
From the above you will see that I have made just over jQiooo by my copyrights in six months. Of course this is partly due to the war in South Africa. I have the best series of generals and war portraits extant, and I have made about ;^5oo by one portrait alone, that of Major-Gen- eral Baden-Powell.
And now as to the future. I think I told you when I saw you in New York that, up to the eve of my starting for Jap^an,, two and a half years ago, I was engaged with others in draft- ing a new copyright bill. It was taken up by Lord Herschel. He went to America and died there, and the bill was never heard of more. Next a bill was drafted by the Royal Acade- micians, which was totally against the photog- raphers, but why we never could tell, except that so-called artists are jealous of us, and, besides this, a man who shall be nameless, the manager of a very large sweating London pub- lishing business, had a principal hand in draft- ing the bill. He is one of those persons who like to have the use of other people's photo- graphs for nothing if possible. This bill was introduced into Parliament, and was referred to a select committee in the House of Lords. It is called Lord Monkswell's bill, and, of course,
we photographers fought it tooth and nail — I, among others, gave evidence before the com- mittee. The Photographers* Copyright Union got every amateur photographic society in the kingdom to petition against the bill, and the Union did other excellent work, with the re- sult that during this session the bill has been redrafted entirely in the photographic interest.
Photography is put on a par with painting, etc., in fact it is alluded to as a ** fine art." The term of copyright is for life of the photogra- pher, and for thirty years after death. The photographer is proprietor of the copyright, whether paid for taking the picture or not, only in the case of payment the photographer cannot make use of the photograph in any way with- out the consent of the person who gives the commission, until after his death. But the principal feature in favor of the photographer is that it does away entirely with registration — the bill is a model of conciseness and simplicity. It has been read a second time in the Upper House, and has been sent to Canada and Aus- tralia for the approval of the Colonies, and there is every prospect of its becoming a law next year.
In the meantime, as I said before, we are going on here remarkably well. I wish I could compliment you on the way you are going on in America Anything more deplorable than your description of the state of the law of copy- right with regard to photography it is difficult to imagine, and I can only sympathize with you with all my heart.
Hoping for better things for you in the future, and with kindest regards, I am, Yours, very sincerely, (Signed) Jos. J. Elliott.
BACKED PLATES.
There are very few amateurs who do not use backed plates, so no doubt a hint will prove useful to those who employ them. It will be found that, if the backed plate does not fit tight in the dark slide, the backing occasionally chips off in the shaking, and so causes the well-known pin-holes, which will be easily discovered after the plate has been developed.
I have found it a very good plan after back- ing the plate to place a backing paper over the backing. This will not only prevent the back- ing from chipping off, but also act as a double preventative against halation. — W. R. S. (^Pho- tographic News.)
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Virginia Prall,
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AN ONYX CAVE OF THE OZARKS.
BY R. M. MILLKR.
IN March, 1899, 1 spent a few weeks at Eureka Springs, Ark., to get the benefit of the climate, which was mild and pleasant as compared with the vigorous climate of Iowa. Around the Springs are many unique natural curiosities, among which are Roaring River, a small stream rushing out of a cave, Pivot Rock, and the Onyx caves, one of which I visited.
These caves are vast, dangerous affairs, pene- trating in all directions, including up and down, under the big hills — as hills they are, these Ozark mountains, big rocky tree-covered hills). Sometimes the galleries enlarge into large chambers, with huge stalactites of onyx sus- pended from above, with an occasional block, broken off by its weight, on the floor. These pieces of stalactite onyx range in size from that of a pencil to a wagon box. The more one ex- amines and thinks about them, the less he cares to remain under the needle-like projections. Water, from which the onyx is formed, is al- ways dripping from these onyx points, and of course the galleries, leading in various directions, are damp and slippery. In several places we passed over narrow clay paths where a step out
of the path would mean a fall downward into unknown depths. We could hear far below the murmur of an underground river.
In making some flashlights in this cave I learned some useful facts. Moisture settles on the lens, and unless it is kept wiped off, there will be no impression on the plate. One should select the finest view first, as subsequent ex- posures within an hour or so are almost sure to be more or less spoiled by the smoke from the
first flash. One ordinary powder will hardly make an impression unless the objects are from six to eight feet from the lens. We used a blow-flash machine, which gave a very bright light for several seconds. Stop //4 is not too large if your camera has one. The dark in one of these caves is the blackest dark I ever encoun- tered. The most rapid plate should be used, and that developed as an undertimed plate. Even with these precautions you are likely to get a thin negative from which the lighted ob- jects print black. Mine were such; but by care- ful intensification I got a pretty fair print.
When the flash occurred, the onyx appeared in the most dazzling brilliancy, but unfortun- ately the plate recorded but a faint image of the beauty as we saw it.
MY PHOTOGRAPHIC BETE NOIR.
BY FATTY NITZA.
I AM an amateur photographer, or possibly, like the newspaper reporter who is al- ways on the lookout to avoid a libel suit, I should say I am an ** alleged " amateur photographer; then perhaps I would have come closer to the mark.
I am not only an ** alleged " amateur, but I am 350 pounds of an ** alleged " amateur pho- tographer. I am seventy-three inches up and fifty-four inches round, so you will not find it difficult to figure out how much of a six foot square dark room there is left when I get in there and shut the door.
I can truthfully say that after the trays for developing, washing, rinsing, and fixing, to- gether with the ruby lamp and several bottles that may have to be used in an emergency, have all been placed in their convenient places, there is a very small amount of space left.
A slim man might get along beautifully in that dark room, but that fifty-four inch girth of mine has proved to be my photographic bete noir. If anything drops on the floor — and if you have ever weighed 350 pounds you know the cussedness of inanimate objects, which are always falling when a man has a fifty-four-inch girth— it is just beyond the pale of possibility for me to stoop down and pick it up. I have to get down on my knees and hands, and then frequently have to cover up all the trays and dishes so that I can open the door in order to get a portion of my feet outside so I can lie down flat and feel round for what has dropped. The heaviest thing in my dark room has proved
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My Photographic Bete Noir
[October
rORTRAIT OP
John Thompson.
to be my little hard rubber plate lifter. It is continually dropping on the floor, and every time it crops I forget myself and say something that would not be nice for ladies to hear, and I am always so glad the dark room door is shut when the plate-lifter drops. I used to fog lots of plates opening the door just a little crack to find the plate-lifter, but I have bought a nice rubber fixing-box, and now I don't fog any more plates; but the ownership of the rubber fixing-box has made no perceptible difference in the intensity of the cussing. It is so intense sometimes that if you were to expose a piece of silver paper behind it there would be a bald- headed sky and white paper water, which Dr. Nicol hates so, and which ** alleged " amateurs always seems to be firing at him.
That girth of mine will either drive me out of the amateur photograph business or into the
lunatic aslyum if it continues to insist on getting in the way eternally. It is ever with me, yet still I am always forgetting it, and never make allowance for it, often to my sorrow.
I have a dear little wife, who is as small as I am blubberly, and she once in a while conde- scends to be my companion in the dark room. But it is only recently that she and I have got on speaking terms again. And all because of that fifty -four-inch girth of mine.
I had a few exposures to develop and so 1 invited my wife to be my companion in the dark room, knowing that the resulting negatives would be doubly interesting to her because she had been along when they were made. I ar- ranged everything nicely on my little develop- ing table, made up a fresh pyro developer, and then lighted the lamp. Seating myself at the table with my wife alongside, I began opera-
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tions. I got along very nicely with the first three plates, as they had been properly exposed and came along very nicely in a normal devel- oper. The fourth one caused all the trouble. As soon as it struck the developer, which was now nicely oxidized, it showed signs of over- exposure. I had forgotten to place the bromide bottle on the table and had to get up to get it. I arose for that purpose and that table persisted in resting on the upper curve of that fifty-four- inch girth. My! How things did take a slide! Over went the ruby lamp, and away went the trays with developer, hypo, and water, scooting across that table like mad. The developer tray shot into my wife's lap and instantly soaked through an apron she had put on as a precaution. When I heard the fuss I quickly sat down again without getting that bromide bottle, and that infernal table rebounded and caught in the lower curve of that fifty-four-inch girth and came over toward me with a flap that sent the ruby lamp into my lap, which was soon full of kerosene oil. Fortunately during the m^lfee the lamp went out, or there might have been a cremation in that dark room.
While I was frantically trying to get things once more on the level I could hear nothing but
the frantic appeals of my wife, almost drowned under about eight ounces of pyro developer, a dish full of water, and another of hypo, who kept shouting, "Let me out of this hole!" She finally groped her way to the door, threw it open, and swept out. Of course I went out to console her. The pyro had got in its work and spoiled a pretty dress which was not more than two weeks old. I promised another dress and various and sundry other things, so she says, and although it has been six months since the accident, she says I have not kept all the pro- mises made that night. I fear that I never will, though I do not remember all of them.
A summer girl with a lace dress on trying to engineer her way through the strands of a barbed- wire fence is not in danger of as many entanglements as I am with this fifty-four-inch girth of mine in a six foot-dark room. I am not going to give up my fad on that account. I have tried to give up the girth, but can't; it is like a country cousin — it won't go. I have drank kissingen and vichy on alternate days till I have collected the finest lot of blue bottles for use in the dark* room that you ever saw, and every time I look at them they remind me of my photographic bete noir.
Waiter Bertltng.
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How to Gauge Light and Shade
[October
HOW TO GAUGE UGHT AND SHADE.
BY A. B. GARDNER.
IN my amateur landscape work I have found, and probably many others have found, that a view which seems very pleasing to the eye will prove quite disappointing in the print, the trouble being that the plate did not seem to reproduce all that the eye saw and also that the eye did not give proper place to the colors shown in the view. This latter feature is especially noticeable in views contain- ing shallow water through which the bottom is seen and also reflections of the trees. To the eye color gives plenty of distinction between the water and the foliage but when reduced to masses of light and shade on the plate, there is so little difference that it is almost lost and the view becomes quite flat. We also see detail and stereoscopic perspective in the woods which when photographed show only patches of light and shadow that, unless the timing and develop- ment have been perfect will be flat and com- monplace. Now it is almost impossible to obtain good results under some conditions of lighting that may produce pleasing effects to the eye, and by taking advantage of a little device that is often used by painters one can readily see exactly what the result on his developed plate will be before the exposure is made. It is only necessary to close the eyes until the view can be barely distinguished between the lids when all the confusing detail is shut out and the view is reduced to a flat mass of light and shade in which color effect are nearly reduced to their proper values. Of course all the detail can be produced in the negative that is in the original, but it is sometimes dif - ficult to do this without over exposing some parts of the view, and this method will enable an)'' one to determine just when those conditions exist and will save quite a waste of time and plates in landscape work. I hope this will be of service to someone.
A POWEE«aJL DEVELOPER
The following developer is recommended by Mr. A. L. Henderson, of the London and Pro- vincial Photographic Association:
No. I.
Hydroquinone 120 grains
Metol 40 grains
Adurol 40 grains
Water 27 ounces
No. 2.
Sodium sulphite 2 ounces
Sodium hydrate 60 grains
Potassium carbonate 60 grains
Water 27 ounces
Equal parts of each to be used.
Restrainer : Potassium cyanide, 20 grains to I ounce of water, and of which i ounce could be mixed with every 4 ounces of developer.
The developer may be made up in two parts, one without the restrainer and another with. If the image flashes up too quickly in the for- mer, the plate should be at once transferred to the restrainer solution.
In this, instead of the shadows fogging over as usual, they will remain perfectly clear, re- sulting in a complete graduated negative. He considers this restrainer much better than the usual bromide. — Scientific American.
A SIMPLE AND EFnOENT REDUCER-
Beginners generally have a great quantity of difficulties to overcome before they can reduce satisfactorily with Howard-Farmer's ferri- cyanide reducer. I would recommend them to try the ** copper bromide '* method. The opera- tions entailed are very simple, and the chemicals are usually to be found in a photographer's chemical store. It has also the advantage that the proportions of the ingredients are not very important. Powder a few crystals of copper sulphate and dissolve it in water. Then add a small quantity of a 10 per cent, solution of potassium bromide. When this has been done the resulting solution should have a decided green color, and when it is applied to the nega- tive or print to be reduced the silver image quickly turns white. It is then immersed in an ordinary hypo solution. The advantage is that no staining of the film results, and the precise quantities are not important. — Orchadian {Amateur Photographer).
THE GUM-BICHROMATE PRCXIESS*
This process, which is finding many adherents amongst advanced photographers, is fully de- scribed in the American Annual of Photography for 1901. Henry Wenzel, Jr., who is the author of the monograph, has proven his right to talk authoritatively on gum-bichromate by winning the only Blue Ribbon awarded at last year's Brooklyn Institute Exhibition for his gum studies.
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THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
A8T0«, LENOX AND TItOtN FOUNDATIONS.
CVENINQ. BAIC ST. MICHAEL. M. Tuke Tyler.
From The American Annual of Photography for 1901.
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British Journal of Photogftaphy*— England^ Ausftist 17*
Familiar Troubies with P.O.P., by A. Lockett
By far the larger number, probably, of those who come to g^ef over this process will be found among the ranks of men accustomed to working albumenized papers. They fondly imagine that the manipulation of these does not vary much in essentials from that of their later rival, P.O. P. When any one starts with this assumption, unless he has the advantage of practical advice from those familiar with gelatine papers, the result is a fore- gone conclusion. For a few weeks, perhaps, he will stock his show-case with glossy-surfaced prints, of vary- ing degrees of excellence, or the reverse, soon to be banished again in favor of his first love. He will assure his friends that, ''after all, there is nothing equal to the old albumenized paper, though certainly you cannot ob- tain it now-a-days like it used to be. These gelatine papers are so uncertain, you can never get two batches of prints to tone alike." and so on. Are we not all familiar with the oft- told tale?
Now, these convictions are simply the natural result of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, or, in other words, to apply a totally unsuitable system of working to a printing process very sensitive to any disturbing influence.
The albumenized process is so delightfully easy. The bath can be used over and over again, without any very serious attention. If a print is a shade too dark or a trifle over-toned, it does not very much matter, a little longer stay in the hypo will remedy this. As to wash- ing, the prints can knock about for hours at their own sweet will without injury, while the mounting and finish- ing also present no special difficulties. In fact, this process may be called the elysium of the happy-go-lucky man. With the advent of P.O.P , ** nous avons change tout cela," a long farewell must be said to all old care- less rule-of-thumb methods if success is here anticipated. Leaving the combined toning and fixing bath out of the question as being scarcely suited for employment com- mercially, the first difference we note is that the bath cannot be used more than once— in itself not a disad- vantage, as far as concerns the production of uniform prints.
An often-ignored point is that the employment of dis- tilled water — always an improvement — is sometimes a necessity, in making up the bath, and for the last wash- ing water before toning. The least trace of acidity
should be carefully guarded against, and the importance of an even temperature will soon force itself on our at- tention. The bath should always be tested with a ther- mometer before use, and never allowed to vary much of either side of 50 deg. F. Working at too high a tem- perature is often the unsuspected cause of many of the bilious-looking prints so much lamented over.
When a bath containing ammonium sulphocyanide is used, the prints are generally passed through an alum solution, prior to toning, to counteract the softening of the film which follows the employment of the former salt. This is often carelessly and hastily done, especially the washing out of the alum, with the resulting conse- quence of uneven tones.
Sufficient care is not always taken to ensure the purity of the chemicals used; a trifling adulteration that would perhaps have no evil effect on albumenized paper, may be fatal to success with P.O.P. There is no need for any misgiving on this point if all purchases are made from a respectable dealer or chemist.
Probably the majority of failures in working gelatine- chloride papers have this in common, that, after fixing, the prints go down alarmingly in tone, assuming a dirty yellowish-brown hue of a decidedly patchy character. The cause, in nine cases out of ten, is over-toning. The unsuspecting printer, used to the comparatively leisurely manner in which albumenized prints conduct themselves during this operation, complacently suffers those on P.O.P. to, figuratively speaking, take the bit in their mouth, and fairly run away with themselves. A pro- perly toned gelatine print loses but little in the fixing, and dries darker in proportion than one on albumenized paper. Owing to the extreme rapidity with which P.O.P. sometimes tones, with a bath of average formula under normal conditions, any but experienced workers are courting certain disaster if they attempt dealing with too many prints at once; about a dozen at a time will be found quite enough to attend to. It is perfectly useless to judge the tone by looking at the face of the print, they must be examined by transmitted light, in other words, held up and looked through.
When all reddishness has disappeared except in the darkest shadows, toning is completed, and the print should be immediately taken out. The cardinal mistake made by a good many well-meaning people is that they wait until the print appears toned all over alike when looked through. If this is done, over-toning has taken place, as the beha\nor of such prints in the fixing bath will speedily demonstrate. The slight redness in the
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shadows, previously alluded to, will disappear on dry- ing, leaving a rich and satisfactory tone.
Another cause of yellow prints is working with an ex- hausted bath. A certain quantity of solution will tone a definite number of prints and no more. If it is at- tempted to exceed that number one of two things will happen; either the first few prints will be toned all right and the rest spoilt, or all of them may come to grief. Very much the same thing results even with a proper allowance of bath if the first few prints are left in too long, thus robbing the others of their fair share of gold.
The old happy way of using a stock toning bath, add- ing a little gold from time to time to replenish its ex- hausted vitality, and having no particular cause for alarm, though the mixture became thick, black, and sirupy, will not do with P.O. P. Fresh bath must be used each time in measured quantities, according to the number of prints, and thrown away when done with.
A favorite complaint against this paper is its undeni- able propensity to what is called double toning. The explanation of this is simply that the tonmg solution has acted too rapidly on the surface of the print, before it has had time to penetrate through the gelatine to the deep)er deposit of silver in the shadows. To a certain extent, perhaps, this is beyond prevention, though a properly toned print never exhibits it to any noticeable degree. A very slight warmth in the shadows is often, in artistic hands, rather an improvement than otherwise. When, however, we see two or three entirely different colors, ranging from a dirty gray to a brick red. in the
same picture, the thing becomes an eyesore and an abomination. Prevention is certainly better than cure in this case, for no remedy exists once the thing is done. If the happy medium is kept between too strong and too weak a bath, if careful attention is paid to maintaining a uniform tem|>erature, if suitable negatives are used, and due precaution taken against prematurely exhaust- ing the friendly gold, this woful affliction of chameleon toning will be overcome.
Photography. — ^Englandt August <6.
Obtaining Photographic Images in Relief, by Prof* R. Namias*
Poitevin's discovery, that bichromated gelatine after exposure to light loses its property of swelling up in cold water, has long been known. It has been applied to the production of reliefs from which plaster casts could afterwards be made; but the negatives for this purpose have to be of a special kind.
In my experience negatives are best when they show a portrait in profile, with the dark parts dusted over with a white powder. The process on the other hand, does not lend itself to the reproduction of landscapes, copies of pictures, or subjects of a similar character. It is especially suitable to the reproduction in relief of designs specially made for the purpose, since by attend- ing to certain rules in making them, we can ensure getting negatives in which the opaque parts shall cor- respond with the projecting and the transparent portions with the hollows. In all natural objects there are cer-
Frank^Ruspene.
From The American .Annual of Photography for 1901.
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tain shadows which altogether falsify the effect of the relief.
The rules to be observed in making desig^ns suitable for the process have already been very clearly laid down by M. Marion in an article printed in the Bulleiin of the Soci6t6 Fran^aise de Photographic, and of them, there- fore, I shall not speak. But I wish to deal with the chemical side of the process to which I have lately given some attention.
One important condition of success is first to coat the gelatine on to a glass plate and afterwards to sensitize it. Good results can never be obtained by coating the glass direct with a mixture of gelatine and bichromate.
One point I had before me in particular in my experi- ments and that was to increase as far as possible the degree of relief. After having tried a great number of
When the gelatine has set the plates are stood up, ver- tically, to dry. To sensitize them they are best im- mersed in a three per cent, solution of ammonium bichromate, to which an excess of ammonia has been added —enough to convert all the bichromate to the chromate salt. The plates sensitized in this solution are not so sensitive as those treated with plain bichromate, but they will keep much better— for ten or twelve days in fact. The relief also is greater, since with the bichro- mate there is always an action upon the gum, even during the drying, while with the chromate there is not, or at any rate it is but a very slow one. It might be supposed that in the sensitizing, the gum being soluble, it would dissolve out. But I have not been able to detect this. Exposure to light must be a fairly long one— from a
MARSHLAND.
John Carpenter.
From The American Annual of Photography for 1901.
substances, that which succeeded best in my hands was a mixture of gelatine and gum arable. This gives much greater relief than can be obtained by employing gela- tine only. The following is the composition of the solution:
Gelatine ao frrammes
Gum arable 10 grammes
Water 100 cc.
Acetic acid » cc.
The acetic acid is added to enable the solution to be kept for a long time, so that a quantity may be made up and used as required. It can thus be kept in a corked bottle, and heated in a water bath to melt it, when required for use.
The glass plates are very carefully levelled, and coated with the liquid to about the depth of the relief that it is desired to obtain, say two to three millimeters.
quarter to half an hour to sunlight under a fairly vigor- ous negative; it should be so arranged that the rays fall as nearly as possible perpendicularly to the neg- ative.
The next step to take is to obtain the relief. Here a diffi- culty will be found to present itself on account of the pre- sence of the gum. If the plate is merely placed in water the swelling will be irregular, and a considerable grain will manifest itself, seriously interfering with the image. This must be got over if the great degree of relief due to the gum is to be made use of. I have succeeded in doing this very well by the use of a two per cent, solu- tion of alum in place of the water in which the plate is plunged to make it swell. But I have got better results still by employing this alum solution with the addition of two per cent, of acetic acid. The probable cause of the trouble just mentioned is the solution of the gum.
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and this is prevented by such a bath while the swelling is not interfered with.
After some hours' immersion an image of a very per- fect character and with a high degree of relief is ob- tained. The thick film is of a very substantial nature, and can not only be employed for making plaster casts, but, by coating it with graphite, may be copied directly by any of the ordinary electro-deposition processes.
If this is to be done it is advisable — before or after exposure ~ to edge the plate with shellac varnish, so as to prevent any risk of the film leaving the glass, a result otherwise likely to happen when the film is im- mersed for a long time in the acid solution of copper sulphate that has to be employed.
I cannot deal here with the many possible applications of this process of obtainmg photo-reliefs, but I cannot help thinking that it may be found eventually that for typographic purposes — in reproducing hand work — it will be simpler than etching.
The Photographic News*— England, August 24* Stfmmer Trotfbles, by W. Thomas.
When such conditions, both of brilliant light and high temperature, burst suddenly upon us, not only does it afifect our physical convenience, but unless precautions be taken the practice of amateur photography runs some risk of proving, so far as the results produced are con- cerned, just about as variable as the weather itself.
The evils, which seem like weeds to spring up, arise chiefly from fog, largely caused by leaking, damaged apparatus, or defective light filter in the dark room. If daylight be used as the illuminant in ordinary winter or dull light it may be perfectly safe for changing or de- veloping plates, but will probably be found to have faded, especially so where colored paper or fabric is em- ployed as the light filter, and even ruby glass windows, which, in the soft light of early spring or winter, may be perfectly safe, and behind which most sensitive plates can be developed, will, in the brilliant light of the present period, need great care^ taken to test the effect produced, and see whether or no it be not necessary to further screen the win- dow by a sheet of orange paper or temporary blind.
During the progress of develop- ment the usual plan is to take the plate out from the dish, and view it by transmitted light from lamp or window, and, until sufficient exper- ience has been obtained to judge the progress of development at a glance while the plate still lies in the dish, the almost invariable proceeding with the young worker is to have the plate firmly grasped between a warm finger and thumb for about two thirds of the time that it takes for the nega- tive to be fully developed. That is to say, if five minutes is occupied from start to finish, the probabilities are ^rc^arinc dinner.
that he will have had it out of the dish about one hundred times, and. what started its career, when enter- ing the developing solutions as a sheet of glass perfectly coated with sensitive emulsion, will have become a sheet of glass with various bubbles and masses of wet slimy matter. Then when attempts are made to stop further damage, by the simple process of holding the plate under a stream of water from the tap. the tragedy is completed by the budding medal- list finding himself with a sheet of plain jaflass left in his fingers, the negative film having departed down the sink. Then the usual wail goes forth that the plates were bad, the dealers rogues or fools, and the photogra- pher a poor, wretched victim.
The remedy against all this is simply not to handle plates in hot weather more than absolutely needful; and during the warmest days we have had in this country during the last few years, in the writer's own practice, no single case of frilling or blistering has occurred from the cause referred to above, his practice being, when a plate has to be taken out of the developing dish, for ex- amination, to lift it by means of a common wooden lucifer match, which serves the double purpose of re- lighting the cigar when it goes out and acts as a lever to raise negatives from the dish.
It ought to be pointed out that the only care neces- sary in using this little aid is to see that it goes behind the edge of the negative and not on to the film. In handling the plate, if it be taken and supported by two fingers pressing the edge of each opposite side, the film will not be touched, and examination done in this way may occur as many times as desired without the least evil effect from disruption of the film taking place.
Plates refuse to develop up to normal density. Again it is the poor maker and his wretched materials that are to blame, of course. It does not strike the photographer that these self-same makes of plates have been apt to
Henry Gahupeau,
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behave themselves in a decorous manner, and negatives come up to full printing density with regularity and readiness. The new trouble mainly arises from the ex- tremely active chemical eflFect light at this time of the year possesses and due allowance for which not having been made, as also of the fact that developing agents act with varying degrees of energy in accordance with the temperature they are employed at, so that the com- bined effect of more exposure and too active developer strikes terror into the less experienced worker when the image flashes out on his plate and rapidly, threatens to bury itself into fog and oblivion, to save which fate it is hiuriedly snatched away and placed in the fixing bath, the result— a thin, useless ghost.
" The remedy— test the light with either a Watkins' or Wynnes actinometer, see that the developing solutions are as near as possible at 60 or 70 deg. F., and your troubles in the above directions will evaporate as rapidly as the morning dewdrops do when the sun shines forth. Reticulated P/ates.— Unless care be taken it is no un- usual thing at this period of the year to find negatives when dried show a very curious pox-marked appearance on the film; more especially is this likely to occur if the water employed for washing be at all warm and allowed to run with any force. The gelatine film being in a very soft, pulpy condition, small particles o^ it are easily dissolved and washed away, and it becomes needful to treat them with exceed- ing gentleness, unless either by means of ice or other artificial measures the temperature of developing solutions and washing water can be reduced; but, failing this being con- venient, such washing of the plates as is necessary should be done in the shortest pos- sible time and the necessary changes made with as little disturbance as possible, or, in case of running water, it should be allowed to flow very gently into the bottom of the dish and not direct on to the film sides of negatives; and, if these few simple preven- tions are taken, little trouble will arise from frilled plates or other causes which may be directly traced to and described as summer troubles.
and with a print roller I roll all the water out, being careful to squeegee all the air bubbles out. I next set them where the air will dry them quickly. If it is in the sun it does not matter. When they are dry they rarely fail to leave the plate and often do so spontaneously; and if for any cause they do not do so, 1 take a sponge and dampen it and pass over the back of prints and leave for a minute or so, then they will come up good and retain their gloss, as the dampness is not enough to swell the gelatine on the paper, for this refers to gelatine paper only.
Camera Craft -September*
Simplicity, Ezpressiont and Textttre in Flowef Studies, by O. V. Laoge. As regards the color, much care should be exercised in the selection, so as to g^ve the most attractive result, photographically. Dark red, deep indigo, and highly variegated flowers are the colors to be avoided, as tex- ture will be lacking, while white, lemon, and the deeper
Photo-Beacon — ^September* A Simple Method of Squeegeeing Glossy Prints, by Mary E* Flenoy*
I have a piece of plate glass about 14 x 20 inches. This I procured of a glazier, being a piece of a broken store window, and costing me 25 cents. I wash and clean with soap and water. Next I take a small piece of cotton cloth and dip in alcohol and rub thor- oughly. I then take a piece of tallow candle and rub over clean side o^ glass. I find the sperm will adhere only in places, but the idea is to get it all over good. If it does not stick, it does not matter. Next I take a clean piece of muslin and rub all of the sperm from glass, and as it is rather hard to get oflf, when done the plate is polished 1 now take wet -prints, place face down on glass.
WHERE TROUBLES END.
IV. S. Clow,
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[October
yellows and pink can be made to g^ve charming results with proper manipulation. The sunflower mentioned was a bright yellow, and with an ordinary plate and no color screen gave a decidedly false impression, it being dark and dismal instead of bright and sunny. The effect Anally obtained was procured by using a Cramer Isochromattc plate and a light yellow-colored glass screen.
In lighting the subject one should not only seek a proper contrast of high lights and deep darks, but should attend and be sensitive to the infinite variety of middle tints, which are the ones that render texture best. By texture I mean the surface appearance. If the flower is waxy it should retain the appearance of wax in the finished photograph; if velvety, the feeling of velvet should be preserved, and if silky, the peculiar sheen of silk should be found in the finished print. This is where the true skill of the photographer comes in, if he desires to express in his pictures and transmit to others these exquisite distinctions that his artistic tem- perament make him sensitive to. To be able to get these results, we depend, next to lighting, upon what is called chemical effects, and good chemical effects are only obtained by the proper relationship of time and development.
I find that the use of one standard developer, and timing to suit the developer, is the most successful way of solving the problem. The average time necessary in flower work is thirty seconds, with //32 as the usual aperture. My lens is a Dallmeyer rapid rectilinear, used in conjunction with a subdued side-light and
Seed's 27 and Cramer Crown plates. My developer is a stock solution :
Metol I ounce
Sulphite soda 3 ounces
Carb. potassa i ounce
Water 40 ounces
Normal solution one ounce to two of water.
As no two flowers require the same time this will have to be learned, as other knowledge is gained, by experi- ment. Full time and rather soft developer give the best effects for indoor flower studies, the contrast re- quired being obtained by the lighting. Backgrounds enter prominently into the composition of all flower studies. In the case of the sunflower, coarse burlap was decided upon after some experiment, its mottled sur- face, by contrast, giving relief to the flower and enhanc- ing Its silky appearance. As this is a garden plant and usually found near a fence or an old well, I allowed the grain of the burlap to show so as to suggest the prox- imity of something of that nature. The right side of the background was shaded to relieve it of monotony, and also to give the idea that some near object was casting a shadow over it. In this picture no especial attempt was made to get atmospheric feeling, as there was too little distance to make it apparent.
Focal Plane Work» by T. E* Hare.
The theory of exposure with the focal plane shutter is to give the maximum exposure according to the needs of each class of subjects. The following table will give
NOW WAS THE DAY DCPARTINa
AND THE AIR CMBflOWNCO WITH SHADOWS.
Gea. IV. If arris, M.D.
From The American Annual of Photography for igox.
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Our Monthly Digest
455
John Thompson.
the approximate speed necessary to catch the several classes of subjects most frequently met with:
Man walking 1.150 seconds
Tennis player 1-200 to 1-400 "
Vaulter 1-400 '*
Jumper 1-400 "
Horse walkinfjf 1-200 "
Horse runnin^r (direct) 1-500 *'
Horse runninfi^ (right angles) i-iooo ''
Man running ^direct) 1-400 *'
Man running (right angles) x-iooo *'
Football players and kindred sports x-800 '*
The actinic power of the light in various quarters of the country will alter somewhat the figures given, but for all practical purposes they will prove to be of value.
The fastest plates are of course a necessity, and upon the development much depends. As a general rule the figures contained in the table, used in connection with a moderately fast lens, will be found to give a compara- tively normal exposure; therefore a normal developer, somewhat energetic in action, is required. The fol- lowing modification of one of the old pyro formulas will be found to give good density with plenty of detail :
No. I.
Pyrogallic acid i ounce
Sulphuric acid t dram
Water 80 ounces
No. 2.
Sulphite soda 8 ounces
Sal soda 6 ounces
Water 80 ounces
Mix in equal proportions.
While it is not necessary to mix such a large quantity of developer, still it is advisable where much work is done, as it is preferable to use a freshly mixed solution on each plate.
One essential adjunct to focal plane work is a good finder, and good finders are scarce. The plane reducing glasses fitted in a metal frame are valuable for center- ing the subject upon the plate, but are of little use in determining when the plate is completely covered. However, as it is seldom desirable to make a fast picture occupying more than three inches on the plate, this does not matter so much.
Wilson's Photographic Magazine* — ^September*
Lenses for Large Vork, by H* Lawler*
Large direct portraiture, if well handled, is a very fine specialty, and one with much possibility of money in it. Too much of our large direct work is in the form of full- length subjects, and except in texture it has too much resemblance to an enlargement from a smaller negative. One of the causes most helping to success in this line is
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Oar Monthly Digest
[October
a knowledge of the right lenses to use, and on this point there is much misconception. To purchase a studio lens of modern and approved make, to cover 17 x 22, or a size larger, means hundred of dollars.
There has been much written lately, and not without cause, about faulty perspective, or, as it is called, dis- tortion. This is a pure matter of economy, which ne- cessitates the working of a lens to its fullest capacity, or even a size beyond, and the camera being brought close to the sitter. If a man could use a large lens, worked with a wide-open aperture he would improve his work, but this means using a lens calculated to cover a plate larger than the one used. Instead, we are driven to using a lens intended for a smaller plate, and gain our size by excessive stopping down.
Why should the portrait lens be such an absolute ne- cessity ? In the old wet collodion days the slowness of the process made a large lens aperture a necessity, but with the dry plate we have a much increased rapidity. The advantage of a rapid lens is in dull weather only, or for takmg restless children. Take a lens which will work at //7, and if it is stopped down to f/ii it is no more rapid than one whose greatest speed \sf/i\. And if the light is such that the lens can be worked at//ii it will be worked at that figure on account of the greater depth of definition. A rapid lens should be included in every photographer's outfit, but it is not necessarily the best for every class of work.
We are just beginning to hear much of the distortion so apparent in large photographs. To obtain pleasing and correct perspective the equivalent focal length of a
ff^-/ ■'^'-
'T^^F^'
?^* & *
lens should be at least double the longest dimension of the plate. That is to say, with a 12 x 15 plate we should have a camera extension of at least 30 inches. This allows the camera to be placed much further from the sitter, and the need of it has quite recently led to the making of a special telephoto lens for studio work; to take a portrait at a distance of twenty or thirty feet.
There has been what is, in some respects, an ideal lens for large work in existence for so long that it is al- most entirely forgotten. I mean the old single land- scape lens of almost half a century ago. These old lenses, usually plano-convex, used to have a fixed aperture of abouty7j6. and they gave good sharp defini- tion over an area of two-thirds their focal length. That is, a lens of thirty inches focal length would fully cover a 12 X 15 plate to the corners.
jF/it is rapid enough for most work, but if the stop were bored out toy/i i it would still cover half its focal length, say a 10 x 12 plate in the case quoted, and bored out to an absurdly large aperture it would still give ac- ceptable definition in the center of the plate. One of the highest priced photographers uses one of these large lenses almost exclusively on his 5x7 plates and con- siders it one of his most valuable secrets.
Whether new school or old, we will all concede that it is possible to get a large portrait with too much sharp- ness The very use of platinum paper, or of any matt surfaced paper, even in very small sizes, is a protest against excessive sharpness. To use any old single lens^ capable of covering a plate much larger than the one used, does not give excessive detail, but it does not give fuzziness. For ** pictorial " results they may be worked at //5 or //6, but at //i r they are good studio lenses . There is a common belief that a doublet lens, or even a portrait lens, is an absolute essential. But this is a mis- take, for intelligently used, the old single lens will give results which will not only surprise the photographer but which will please the general public.
Walttr Bertiing,
Testing the Camera. — There is no more fruitful source of annoyance than a camera which is not odscura, which lets in rays of light at some part of its framework. Sometimes it is at the front where the lens is fitted, sometimes at the back where the sides go in, and not infrequently in the bellows themselves; every month or so the camera ought to be examined for leakages of this kind. The way to do it is to take the camera and slides (empty) into the open when the sun is shining brightly, and mount it on the tripod, turn the focussing screen back, and cover the head with a focussmg cloth and some other cloth to shut out all light. Peer into the recesses for three or four minutes. If no holes are then visible, then the front and bellows of the camera are all right. Of course, daring this operation the lens must be capped or the shutter closed. To examine the back take out the lens and perform the same operation, putting in each slide successively. If any leaks are seen the remedy will be found in a bit of black cloth, paper, or preferably velvet if not too thick, and always velvet at the slide entrance. Holes in the bellows should be neatly patched outside and inside.— D. T. D., Photog-- raphy.
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The Use of Formalin
lOciOBiR
THE RCADCII.
Edmund Stirling.
THE USE OF FORMALIN IN THE RAPID DRYING OF NEGATIVES.
BY H. VAN KEEK.
IT frequently occurs that a gelatine dry plate is needed in a hurry, leaving little time for its free, natural drying after washing. In such cases some substance must be employed to displace the com- paratively slow evaporating water from the film, so that the drying process may be hastened. Alcohol has proved to be a very valuable medium for this purpose, but for general use it is too expensive, as its value decreases in pre- paration to the amount of water mixed with it, and it is not an easy matter for every one to rid the alcohol of the water it takes up.
Methylated spirit can be used as a substitute, but is seldom obtainable in a sufficiently pure state. Further at least a quarter of an hour is required for drying the plate in the air.
For a long time past, formalin, the 40 per cent, aqueous solution of f ormaldihyde, has been
recommended for this purpose. Formalin acts a very different part from alcohol with regard to the negative. It displaces the water in the film in a similar manner, but is more volatile than the alcohol and at the same time hardens the gelatine, making it more or less insoluble. This action on the gelatine has the advantage that heat can be used in drying the plate with- out fear of the usual disastrous effects. But formalin has several serious disadvantages. The 10 per cent, solution, which is usually used, emits vapors which have a very unpleasant effect on the throat, and which act more or less injuriously on the constitution. The skin also is, with many workers, liable to be affected But a technical disadvantage lies in the pos- sibility of the overhardening the gelatine. Once hardened, any subsequent intensifying or reduc- ing of the film can only be effected with dif- ficulty. It would perhaps be advisable to nullify this action of the formalin by a weak nitric acid bath. The method of using formalin for drying
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459
negatives is at follows : After bathing the nega- tive in a lo per cent, solution of formalin for a short while the negative can be rinsed in boiling water and dried over a flame, naturally, at a proper distance. If the film takes on a coarse grainy appearance, a little alcohol rubbed on with chamois leather will remedy this. The formalin solution must be kept in a well-corked bottle, or it will quickly spoil.
UNFRIENDLY CRITICISM-
BY H. A. BEASLEY.
HOW easy it is to criticise, and yet how difficult to make a criticism of value. Words of condemnation or praise spring to our lips when we behold the work of others and flow out in a steady stream, lacking the check rein of thought^ which makes opinions and sugges- tions valuable. Many of us cannot stand true criticism. We tell our friends we wish their honest opinions of our work (thinking at the time they of course must admire our pictures as we do), and when we get a "straight from the shoulder" opinion we are oftentimes disap- pointed. PMendly criticism is what all of us need. If we can pick out from among our ac- quintaiices some one who knows and is willing to take the trouble to look over our photo- graphic work every month or so we have some- thing which will do us more good than any book we could read, for while books define certain well known principles and fix certain standards it is seldom, if ever, that we find a criticism which will exactly fit or apply to our own pic- tures. Again, a discussion regarding the merits and demerits of a picture in an impassionate manner is bound to help not only the critic but the man or woman whose work is being judged.
One reason why some of our photographic clubs are not more successful is because members do not criticise the photographic attempts of their fellows in a friendly spirit. They allow their criticisms to be aflEected by their feelings toward the member whose work is before them ; if they like him they are very apt to say his pictures are good, but if they are jealous of his fine ^^^ diveh.
work, or he is not a favorite of theirs, they "roast" his work whether it deserves it or not.
If a man is not capable of criticising the work of another he will always find fault with it be- cause it is much easier to pick a thing to pieces than to show how it may be improved and strengthened.
All of us can get a great deal of information from even the "new members" of clubs if we only seek to draw them out. They may not know as much about photography as we think we do^ but they often have better ideas regard- ing the mechanical portion of the work. For the information they give us we can help them in their uphill struggle with developers, re- ducers, intensifiers, etc. Surely such a fair exchange is commendable.
Many clubs are now getting ready for their winter work, and in looking around for "weak spots" in their organization this subject of criticism should not be overlooked. Not only is it well to have a committee to criticise the work of members of the club, but capable out- siders who are willing to do so should be called in to give their opinion, and if all is done in a friendly, but thorough^ way it will increase the efficiency of the members and change a dormant dub to an active and progressive body, without a corresponding increase in the expenditures, a very important point to some clubs.
In conclusion let me beg the readers of the Photographic Times to criticise work of their
Louis MeldoH.
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^duresque California Mountain Roads
[October
friends from their hearts and not permit their opinions to get down to the low level of spite. If a man does better work than you, profit by it, for false criticism will only do you harm, as it will slide off your friend who knows like " water from a duck's back."
G. c. M.
SOME PICTURESQUE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAIN ROADS.
BY GEO. C. MEEKER.
HERE is a peculiar charm about moun- tain roads that is not to be found in the roads of the valleys. As one looks back at every successive stop for rest while climb- ing the grade, a more extended view of the valley is spread out below him. As he proceeds on his up- ward way, every turn of the road presents a new picture to his view, and lures him on to greater heights. After reaching the summit, this is repeated on the downward grade, and his interest is governed by the natural beauty of the road and by his appreciation of nature.
To most people, not residents of the state, the mention of picturesque mountain roads of Cali- fornia, will suggest those of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and possibly those leading to the Yosemite Valley. While these roads abound in scenery of absorbing interest; grandeur, and not picturesque beauty, is the prominent feature of the high Sierras. If one is in search of the picturesque and beautiful in mountain roads, he may find them much more easily in the lower and more accessible mountain ranges of the state.
Perhaps none of the lower mountain ranges are more accessible, and at the same time bet- ter supplied with picturesque and beautiful subjects for the camera, than the Santa Cruz Mountains. Beginning with very respectable hills within the limits of the city of San Fran- cisco this range of mountains extends southward, approximately parallel with the coast, to the Pajaro River, a distance of about eighty-five miles south of the Golden Gate. At first the
hills are comparatively low and almost treeless, but as we proceed southward we find them in- creasing in height, with trees such as live oaks, white oaks, and madrones becoming more com- mon, until, at a distance of thirty or forty miles south of San Francisco, we come to the begin- nings of the redwood forests.
On the western side of these mountains where the foot-hills slope down to the sea, there is a strip of undulating country of varying width, which is particularly well watered by the fogs from the sea being arrested by the higher mountains and condensed into rain. This makes it especially well suited to dairying, for which industry it is now largely utilized. As the first point at which the railroad touches the coast is at Santa Cruz, eighty miles south of San Fran- cisco, this section is very much isolated. Its two little coast towns of Half Moon Bay and Pescadero are connected with the outside world by daily stage lines that cross the mountains to some of the railroad towns at the foot of their eastern slopes. A number of fine streams make their way down through the cations to the sea, several of them good trout streams, and the groves along their banks are favorite resorts for camping parties from the eastern valley.
On the eastern side of these mountains the foot-hills at first reach nearly to the shore of San Francisco Bay, but farther south the bay swings ofl* to the east, and the foot-hills gradually slope down into the beautiful Santa Clara Valley. The Coast Division of the South- ern Pacific Railway runs southward from San Francisco, following close along the base of the foot-hills. Along its course at short intervals are pretty little country towns, largely places of residence for San Francisco business men. The country along these foot-hills, extending south- ward for sixty or seventy miles, is one of the most interesting and picturesque portions of the state. In addition to the towns along the railroad there are many delightful country homes with their well kept orchards and vineyards, and, in some places, groves of fine live and white oaks — sometimes extending for miles.
A number of interesting roads cross this range of mountains, over some of which it has been the writer's privilege to travel when out on camping trips or short outings. The first road of importance is the one starting from San Mateo, twenty-two miles south of San Francisco. After leaving the town, this road follows a
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Picturesque California Mountain Roads
461
stream up a very picturesque canon to the immense dam of the Spring Valley Water Co., above which are two lakes that form one of the chief sources of the water supply of vSan Fran- cisco. At the dam the road turns southward, following the shore of the first lake to the smaller dam between the two, which it crosses continuing on to the summit, and down the western slope with many a curve to the coast town of Half Moon Bay. Owing to the lack of trees, this is the least interesting to the photographer of any of the roads crossing the range.
Seven miles south of San Mateo, another road starts from the railroad town of Redwood City, which unites with others starting from Menlo Park and Mayfield, two towns still farther south. This is a most delight- ful road and abounds in good subjects for the camera After reaching the summit, it follows the La Honda Creek through the magnificent redwood forest to La Honda, where there is a good summer hotel. From here we may follow the stream through a dairying country and reach the coast a few miles north of Pescadero; or, by keep- ing a little to the south, we may cross another ridge, and, still passing through redwood forests, reach the coast at Pescadero. This road is a favorite one for camping parties on account of the natural beauty of its groves of redwood trees, and its finest trout streams.
From the foot-hill village of Saratoga, west of the city of San Jos^, another road of interest crosses the range, and beyond the summit fol- lows the course of Boulder and San Lorenzo Creeks to the coast town and popular summer resort of Santa Cruz, located on the northern shore of Monterey Bay. This is still an in- teresting road, but the ax of the lumberman and the greedy sawmill have made sad inroads into the redwood forests, robbing it of much of its former beauty.
The old stage road from San Jose to Santa
PiCTURCSaUC CALIFORNIA.
Geo. C. Meeker.
Cruz enters the mountains at Los Gatos, twelve miles southwest of San Jos^, and is one of the most traveled roads crossing the Santa Cruz Mountains. Other roads branch from it leading into the mountains — one leading northward and connecting with the Saratoga road at Boulder Creek, and another branching southward, reach- ing the coast at Soquel, five miles south of Santa Cruz.
It was my pleasure to spend a short summer vacation at Glenwood, a station and summer re- sort on this road, just west of the summit, and consequently in the heart of the mountains. The Narrow Gauge Railway, which crosses the mountains nearly parallel with the old stage road, enters the little valley in which the sta- tion is situated by passing through a long tun- nel. At the summit of the hill on the right runs the wagon road just referred to. At the left
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^duresque QiUfomia Mountain Roads
[October
A CANON ROAD.
Co. C. Meeker,
'^y>'n^^'?^r\r\
|
H|Sk |
||
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t *^' -^[t?^ |
||
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r -^ |
^^^K^'' 1.%.... |
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^^^^5^^^^^''^ |
^M |
are the pasture fields of a mountain ranch. Op- posite the station are the store, Postoffice, and saloon all under one roof, while three or four small houses near by complete the village. About a quarter of a mile farther west is the hotel, a delightful summer boarding place, and just beyond this lies the forest. From the sta- tion a wagon road follows along the banks of a stream through the redwood forest, connecting with the main road a mile or so below, and along this road a number of the views illustra- ting this article were taken.
Besides these roads which cross this range of mountains, there are many that lead into them from the eastern valley, following up the streams and canons, and affording a means of communication between mountain ranches and the outside world.
It has been my privilege to visit one of the most interesting of these several times with my camera, the last time being on Decoration Day, 1899. We were late in starting, and did not
reach the cailon until nearly noon, which, in its narrowest and most picturesque places, is well lighted for only a short time during the middle of the day. Accommodating our- selves to this peculiar condition, we made a number of exposures before we had our lunch, and several more immediately after. Prints from several of these negatives are here shown.
Picturesque roads also enter the Coast Range on the eastern side of the Santa Clara Valley, and in fact such roads may be found in all of the lower mountain ranges, both north and south of San Francisco. They all possess essentially the same characteristics as those already described, excepting that there are no redwood forests in the mountains of the Coast Range. Mountain villages, attractive country homes, picturesque streams and canons, with occasional groups of fine oaks and sycamores, combine to make these roads of rare interest to the artist photog- rapher.
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Some Thoughts on Lantern Slide Making
463
A FICTURESauC ROAD.
G€0. C. Meeker.
SOME THOUGHTS ON LANTERN SLIDE MAKING.
BY PRESCOTT ADAMSON. [Paper read before the Photofirraphic Society of Philadelphia.]
BEFORE entering on this theme, it is well to state that it has been neces- sary to use slides for illustrating the various methods of work; as such, I trust they will answer the respective subjects for which they are intended, but wish to disclaim any intention of giving a slide exhi- bition.
Also, as the reduction method used is fully set forth by Mr. Stieglitz, in his excellent pa- per on slides, of September, 1897, I would call your attention to this paper for any further hints on the use of a reducer.
" How to make a good slide," could easily be answered by stating that no result is to be accepted that is not as good as the best print it is possible to make. This may rule out
" the usual thing," but that doesn't cut any figure.
How is the exposure for a lantern plate usu- ally judged ? Guessed at, and generally missed — sometimes don't even know it is missed.
How is the color given by an exposure of this kind foretold? Simply accepted as "just what we wanted."
The method here given is used by the writer, but probably many of you have methods as good or better, and it does not do to say, ** This is the way," or ** That way will not work," as we find good results obtained by many means which we may consider not suited to our own way of working. What is claimed for this method is : positive results, quickness in arriv- ing at the object worked for, and economy.
The negative is developed according to the subject and the result required, and not for any relation it may bear to the slide made there- from. Of course, it should not be ver}' dense, either for this or any other process in general
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Some Thoughts on Lantern Slide Making
[October
use. Negative is proofed on glossy paper, giv- ing full details. This proof is made with lighter or darker printing, or possibly local sunning, etc., until the tonality is correct ; />., until the lights and shadows are properly combined. Thus far, the proof is the guide for either the finished carbon or platinum print, or the slide. The lack of this tone value has been the cause of so much adverse criticism in the past on lan- tern slides, and the criticism has been perfectly just. We have all seen slides with about as much atmosphere as a geometrical figure, and with as beautiful tonality as the noted poster of recent times. As this careful attention to the proper tone is the key to success, you will par- don the emphasis placed upon it.
In making lantern slides, every one must ad- mit that there is considerable waste of plates, unless the best results are not looked for. There is a great latitude in a slow plate, but at the same time there is a certain exposure that is go- ing to give the finest results, and that exposure has little or no variation.
In exposing a plate for a negative we may give under or over-exposure, and by careful work can get a negative on which it is not pos- sible to tell what exposure has been given. With the positive all this is changed. We work with an unchanged developer, and make our ex- posure do what formerly the developer did. In other words, the exposure, always under con- trol, is the movable factor.
Before making the slide proper, a plate is taken and four exposures made thereon, as shown, each exposure starting with a comer in the center, and covering one-fourth of the plate. This uses all the film, 3J x 4 inches, giving four exposures, with almost all of the view on each. If this seems expensive, I would state that this method has been in use for a long time^ and less than half the plates are now required in com- parison with the usual method, and the results are absolutely sure, both in exposure and color.
This quadruple exposure, as you see, varies in time. This slide is a reproduction of a test plate, on which the exposures were ten, fourteen, eighteen, and twenty-two seconds. The finished slide, made after this test plate, is now shown.
It is necessary to state that the slides are made by daylight projection into the dark room, no cover being used after the rays pass through the lens. This allows free access to the plate, and these four exposures are usually made in two minutes. A thirty-nine-inch pendulum swings near the plate. No focusing is required.
as every one sixteenth of an inch is marked with exact focus for any sized image. This saves much time, and is more accurate, as the original focusing was done with a ruled plate. Where a camera is used this same quadruple exposure can be made, possibly just as easily, depending on the arrangements.
It is developed in the developer referred to further on. and fixed. To avoid change of light, the process should not be delayed, but I have experienced no trouble from this, as the whole test takes about ten minutes. The image selected should be the one on which the detail is complete, and the densest parts of negative not represented by clear glass, unless it is a light, or sun breaking through clouds, etc
This perfect exposure known, the plate, of which you have just made the cover glass, is ex- posed, and correctly exposed, which is a great satisfaction. It is put into the same developer, and developed denser than required, but I have not usually found it necessary to develop as dense as Mr. Stieglitz states: i.e.y until nothing can be seen through the plate. After fixing, with proof in view, the proper gradation of tone is rendered by local reduction with Farm- er's solution, applied with a soft brush. (When much work is to be done or the weather is hot, the slide is first soaked in dilute formalin for a short time )
This allows one to produce as perfect an effect as the best-known ways of control in printing. The ferricyanide and hypo must be dilute. I wish this could be emphasized, as the reason for so much failure with this reducer is the use of a solution that will work quickly, and this will not answer. As the reducer has stained no slides, no mention of caution is made, except to keep it dilute. After washing, you will have, not a chance production from a negative, but a pict- ure The gradation of light in a negative is seldom perfect, although a good printer can make perfects from it, and this reduction corre- sponds to control in printing. As a reducer, the ammonium persulphate is probably as useful as Farmer's solution. It has been found to work remarkably well, both entirely and locally, where less contrast was desired. After reduc- tion, and a rinse in water, the plate is flowed, as though developing a wet plate, with a strong solution of sodium sulphite. After flowing it for a moment, it is washed well. The color appears unchanged. Then this same plate, if necessary, can be reduced locally with Fanners solution to get any required contrast. As the
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THE WIDOW'S PATCH.
From *^ Down South:' by Rudolph Etckemeyer, Jr.
Copyright, i<^oo, by Robert Howard Russell. Published by r h. Ruweiu
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Some Thoughts on Lantern Slide Making
t^OcTOBER
least carelessness in the use of this persulphate reducer will give a flat, worthless slide, it is nec- essary to use fully as much care as with the ferricyanide.
The developer used is hydroquinone, and it is not necessary to give the formula for this well- known oxidizer. Eikonogen has been used, also ferrous oxalate, and for certain effects, pyro. The slide, A Wet Day on the Promenade, is de- veloped with pyro, as effective for this particular subject. Mr. John A. Hodges, of London, rec- ommends this latter developer (pyro very much restrained), but for general work it does not seem to equal hydroquinone, which appears particularly adapted for slide making.
The fixing bath is plain hypo, one to two, or double the strength of a negative fixing bath. This is done to save time in the exposure test.
After a slide has been fixed and reduced, it is well washed and dried, usually before a fan. It is better to dry it as quick as possible. Then it is placed in the lantern for testing. If the reduc- tion is not entirely satisfactory, it can be soaked and further work done on it. All authorities seem to agree that no slide should be judged except by its projection, as only in this way can the correct tone quality be decided.
Color, — The color of the slide is of great im- portance. Personally, I prefer a clear, warm black, not muddy, but brilliant where brilliancy is needed. A few slides will give an idea of this color, wtich color is decided when the test-plate is made.
Although the brown, over-exposed color is used, it would seem very often produced be- cause the right exposure is not known. In fact, if the value of the exposure is not known, one is liable to get any old tone, but you can always tell the exact color of your slide by the test- plate. If any one wishes this brown tone, it is easily made by much over exposure and a greatly restrained developer ; or an old devel- oper is very good for this purpose. A slide is shown giving this color.
Toning, — It sometimes enhances the beauty of a slide to change the color, but I have never known a poor, weak slide to make a good one by so doing. The usual black color, as shown, is the most useful, and can always be obtained by correct exposure. The uranium color is fre- quently of use for entire or partial toning. It is produced by taking one and a half ounces of a solution of uranium nitrate, one to thirty, add- ing about ten drops saturated solution of potas- sium ferricyanide and about ten drops acetic
acid. It is not necessary to give exact propor- tions, as different colors are required, and weaker solution and also the time of immersion are both controlling factors. The plate will change from a very faint tinge of red, through all the various shades, also running into the browns. The speed of this toning can also be regulated by the addition of the ferricyanide. When the required color is reached, it is washed and held to the light. With a cotton wad, soaked in weak sodium carbonate, the uranium toning is removed from all parts which are to remain untoned. After washing and drying, the slide is tested for color in the lantern. Some slides, so toned, are shown.
If a blue color is desired, the red uranium tone will change to this color by immersion in ferric chloride, a weak solution being used.
Should a green color be wanted, immerse the fi.Ked and well-washed slide in a weak solution of oxalate of iron and ferricyanide of potassium. It turns blue in this bath, and then is put into a weak solution of chromate of potassium. When the slide is dried from this bath, it will be green.
The above will give all shades of red, brown, green, and blue, and I do not think any further colors are needed. However, additional toning by gold gives many intermediate shades.
Special effects, — Sometimes we wish a very dense slide without having it suffer the slight- est loss in detail. It is made by exposing the reversed image on the cover glass, reducing both this and the slide to half the required density, and binding in perfect register. A slide is shown made in this manner. This is also a useful way of making a good negative from a weak one.
Clouds. — In using clouds, pictorially, there is nothing so necessary as having the altitude cor- rect. The lack of this makes it very easy for any one to recognize prin ted-in clouds. In fact, it catches the eye before the lighting ot the clouds, which, of course, must be the same as the landscape.
In using a cloud negative, the cover gir.s takes the image reversed. With a landscape negative, we expose film to film. With a cloud negative, if lighting is correct, we expose glass to film, or, if the lighting of clouds is to be re- versed, then film to film. The whole of the cloud negative is put on the cover glass, and the lower portion removed with Farmer's solution.
In addition to clouds, anything from another
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Some Thoughts on Lantern Slide Making
467
negative can be printed, reversed, on the cover glass. In the slide before you the clouds are printed on cover glass, also the ripples in the water, three negatives being used.
This was to have been a short article on slides, and it has not been possible to go into details, indeed it is not necessary. If we have some object other than topographical interest, and those who see the projected slide can be made to, and really do, feel the effect we strive to convey, then, I say, we have a picture. Tonality plays a large part in this effect of con- veying impressions, and it is well to give it careful consideration in our work, for, like charity, it covers a multitude of sins. — TAe British Journal of Photography,
Printing: on the Skin. -The Philadelphia Times announces that a Roumanian chemist named Dinkeresco has discovered a means of combining the substances which are used in sensitizing paper for photographic purposes so that they can be applied to the human cuticle without injuring it, and the skin thus be made a sensitive plate for the printing of photography. I )inkeresco's re- markable discovery is a combination of photography and the etching process, and to some extent the image is ** bitten *' into the cuticle. At any rate, the impression is permanent, the image is clear and distinct, and the skin is not made a negative, but really a short of sensitized paper. The impression does not wear away with the change of the tiss<ies and the renewal of the surface of the skin because the substances or changes which have been pro-
duced by the process of photography are renewed ac- cording to the modifications produced by the "biting" process, just as those of a tattooed outline are. And whatever the mechanical means employed, the results are remarkable . By this means every human being be- comes a sort of photographic album. The likenesses of his friends, landscape views associated with his child- hood or with significant events in his life, portraits of the great men and heroes whom he admires and many other things may be reproduced beautifully and per- manently on his surface. Isn't it a delightful prospect for modern babies whose parents are given to freak photography ?
Dense Skies.— In printing clouds into landscapes from separate negatives it is most essential that the sky on the landscape negative should be sufficiently dense as to allow little or no light to pass. A reliable method of obtaining this density is to commence development with the normal reducer and a small amount of acceler- ator, but with a large proportion of bromide. This will develop the high lights only, and the development should be continued until the sky is sufficiently dense, tilting the dish should any lights appear in the foreground. Any details encroaching on the sky line will, with the land- scape, be kept clear by the action of the bromide. The subsequent application of a normal developer without bromide will complete development of the landscape. — R., Photography.
Carl>on Printing.— It is advisable thoroughly to soak transfer paper, particularly the rough kinds, in water, before transferring the pigment to it, but when time presses a short immersion in hot water will soften the gelatine suflSciently to allow of perfect adhesion.— Z'^^- tography.
T. J. Preston^ Jr.
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Toning With the Brush
[October
TONING WITH THE BRUSH.
BY J. RAPHAELS.
PLATINUM PRINTING and carbon printingf may be so manipulated that local development may accomplish excellent effects.
But my object is to point out the facility with which double and triple tones may be had with the ordinary printing-out papers by local application of chemical baths.
As far back as 1865, examples of multiple toning were shown by modification of the gold bath alone; the flesh tints possessed a degree of natural truth, and the hair and clothing were skilfully represented.
Recently Dr. Raubert, of Germany, revived an interest in the process by exhibition of a number of excellent examples. We shall draw on his experience and describe the detail of his method.
The print is to be strongly printed, then thoroughly washed, as in the usual manner, then placed while wet, face up, in a shallow porcelain dish, which has been previously most thoroughly cleansed. It is now ready for the toning operation. For this purpose prepare three different toning baths: a gold, a plati- num, and a uranium bath.
The first gives, according to the duration of action of the toning, brown, velvet, purple, or blue tones ; the second, blacks and grays ; the third, red and flesh tones.
The toning is locally applied by means of a brush, which should be as soft as possi- ble, and without a trace of metalic mount- ings.
The constitution of the gold bath:
Water 4 ounces
Borax 15 grains
Just before using add i drachm of solu- tion of gold:
Gold 2 grains
Water i ounce
The constitution of platinum bath:
Water 16 ounces «"
Potassio-platinuni chloride . . 15 grains .. " Phosphoric acid i drachm
Constitution of uranium bath:
(A) Water 4 ounces
Uranium nitrate 15 grains
(B) Water 4 ounces
Ferricyanide potassium 15 grains
Mix just before using.
If we have a portrait to operate upon, begin by toning the background with gold, taking care not to encroach upon the face.
After the proper tone has been reached, wash the print well off under the tap.
Next comes the hair. If this is to be auburn, allow the bath to ripen a little before use. For deep brown, add more gold to the bath, taking care, however, to neutralize it with proper amount of alkali. Black hair is obtained by using first the gold bath and following with the platinum.
When the proper degree of tones are ob- tained, wash and ?iyi as usual:
Water 16 ounces
Hypo I ounce
and again wash. After fixing, if it is found that the gold toned portions are not just what we desire, they may be modified by application of the gold solution. That is, one may strengthen the pupil of the eye, for instance. This can only be done with gold. No improve- ment of the platinum tones can be effected after fixing.
The uranium toiling which gives the flesh tints is done exclusively after the fixing. Do not let the uranium solution act too long, else the portion will be too deeply toned.
Wash again and all is complete.— ^/;/rrfr/z« Journal of Photography.
CONGRESSIONAL LISRARY. /• ^'- ^'*'V.
The above photograph was submitted tons by Mr. J. C. Vail as a curiosity, which it certainly is. Readers who have visited the Congressional Library at Washington will recognize the architecture, but not even Mr. Vail himself saw the curious mirage effect that his negative gave him. Can any one explain this ?
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Lantern Slide Making
469
THE CArrAIN.-
//. A. Beasley.
LANTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGIN- NERS^
BY ** PRIMROSE HILL."
{Continued.)
THERE are a few points in clearing, fixing, and reduc- ing, in connection with lantern slide making which call for additional notice.
(47) And first with regard to Fix- ing, It is strongly to be recommend- ed that a clear, />., colorless, fixing bath be always used for slides. With negatives a slight staining of the gelatine is often of no great consequence. Indeed, some old hands prefer a slight stain, and say it gives a better printer. But a stained slide is in quite a different case. We therefore advise the beginner to do one of two things. If he uses the plain hypo fixing bath, to use a fresh lot for every batch of slides made, and to throw it away as soon as it begins to become discolored. This he will find is the case after pyro development more quickly than with any other agent.
The acid fixing bath already referred to, how- ever, is not nearly so quickly discolored, and therefore pays for the extra trouble in prepar- ing it. It will be found convenient to prepare this bath in a fair quantity, say a Winchester full at a time, and use a small, new lot for each day's work.
The coating on a lantern plate is usually very much more transparent than plates used for negative-making. The beginner is therefore liable to hurry the fixing. This should be avoided in all cases. The plate must be al- lowed plenty of time in the fixing bath; no harm will come of this if the bath be only clean and not exhausted.
(48) Washing also must be thoroughly done. And by washing we do not mean soaking in a dish of water. Ten minutes in a very gently
flowing stream under the tap is better than a couple of hours' soaking.
(49) Drying, — Before the plate is set up to dry it should be gently mhhed, with tip of a soft finger end or tuft of clean cotton- wool. Drying must be done in a place free from dust. If a plate is allowed to partly dry slowly in a cold room and then is taken into a warm room, a drying mark may result.
(50) Clearing. — Lantern-slide makers are soon fully alive to the importance of keeping their slides clean, bright, and free from fog Hence the number of formulae for clearing baths is very considerable. It will, however, suffice, here to give two or three.
(51) The general favorite is the acid iron
bath. We give the result of compiling several
formulae, stating the extremes in each case:
Iron proto-sulphate 2 to 3 ounces
Alum I to 3 ounces
Citric acid J^ to i ounce
Water 20 ounces
(52) The acid-alum bath is also efficient and very conveniently prepared. Thus: Take of saturated solution of common alum (made by pouring hot water on powdered alum and then decanting the clear, cold solution), a pint in a clean wine bottle, add slowly with frequent shaking i dram of strong hydrochloric acid. Allow any sediment to settle, and use only the quite clear part.
A RUSTIC BRIDOC
Beasley.
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Lantern Slide SHIaking
I October
(53) We give one more formulae, which is supported by good authority, and regret we have not yet had opportunity of giving it a care- ful trial:
Water 10 ounces
Potassium ferricyanide 10 crains
Hydrochloric acid 15 drops
Sulphuric acid 10 drops
After fixing and before clearing, the plate must be well washed, and again after clearing.
(54) Reducing, — It is not always easy to draw a hard and sharp line between clearing and reducing. Generally by the former we mean the removal of an all -over-kind-of- misty-foggy look. But reduction proper generally refers to removal of some of the image or picture itself. It may, however, be doubted if we can remove the fog veil without at the same time removing a little of the image.
However, without staying to discuss limits, there can be no doubt that many slides are vastly improved by a very slight reduction. More than one prominent worker has said that the best plan is to over-develop every slide and then bring it back to the required point by a reducer.
(55) Cyanide and Iodine Reducer. — We give this first because it is so easily prepared, clean working, free from stain, and one can see exactly how we are getting along.
A. Take a small bottle, say an ounce capacity, half fill with alcohol, then add flakes of black (metal-like-looking) iodine until you get a rich, deep port wine color. This keeps indefinitely.
B. Now prepare as required (for it does not keep well) a solution of cyanide of potassium, 10 grains to the ounce of water.
To prepare a reducing bath take enough of B to well cover the plate, add two or three drops of A, mix, and then insert the plate. Rock gently, and examine from time to time. Its action as a reducer is slow and steady. If not quick enough, the plate is first removed, a few more drops of the iodine solution added, and plate returned. After reduction the plate is well washed.
N. B. — Cyanide of potassium is a veiy dan- gerous poison, and should always be kept under lock and key.
(56) Ferricyanide and Hypo Reducer, — This well-known method has got a bad name with some workers because it at times leaves an ob- stinate stain behind. This untoward result is, however, easily avoided if one or two simple points are kept in mind. The following is a
convenient way of procedure. We need but two solutions, viz : A. Hypo solution, i part hypo, 4 or 5 water. B. Small bottle of satur- ated solution of potassium ferricyanide (i>., "red prussiate"). Of A take enough to well cover the plate, and place the plate in this plain hypo solution first. (This is the secret of avoid- ing stains). Then after, say five minutes' soak- ing, place in the graduate a few drops of the B solution. Pour the hypo from the dish into graduate and return all to plate. Rock gently and watch closely. The action does not begin just at first, but when it does, it goes on fairly steadily. The plate must be removed a little before the desired state is reached, as the reducing action goes on a little while after it has left the dish. The plate is washed in a gently flowing stream for at least half an hour.
It should be noted that the two last reducers mentioned tend to accentuate contrast some- what.
(57) Ammonium Persulphate Reducer. — This agent differs from the two last, inasmuch as it tends rather to reduce contrasts. It is used by dissolving about 12 or 15 grains (not more) of the salt in an ounce of water. Its action is slow at first. It converts the black deposit into a brownish shade. The solution is better freshly made, as it does not keep in solution. The action continues a little while, so that the plate must be withdrawn and well washed before the desired stage is reached in the reducing bath. — Amateur Photographer, (To be continued.)
THE RASH LOVER.
He vows he'll give her gifts galore. Fine jewels, horses, yachts, and more. And then winds up, 'tis true you'll laugh, By giving her his photograph.
A CENTURY OLO.<
M. Dfgeuhardt.
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RITURNINQ FROM THE FIELDS.
From ** Down South** by Rudo!ph Eickemeyer^ Jr
Copyright, igoo, by Robert Howard Russell. pubiiahed by r. h. RasMii.
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EditoHdl Notes
I October
HARVARD CAMERA CLUR
F
^ ROM our July report has arisen the misapprehension that we are more of an art club than a photographic club. This is not so. The open art lectures mentioned in that report are only a part of our program. Between them we have thoroughly scientific talks given to the club exclusively. These in- termediate lectures consist in papers on de- veloping, printing and enlarging. In this way the members and officers who are always chang- ing through the yearly graduations and the usual variations in college classes ]>ecome fami- liar, as far as they wish to, with the scientific side.
To be sure the men who speak at our open lectures are recognized art workers, but their topics are generally related to camera work. As an example, there were last year Professor Charles Eliot Norton's lectures on " The Value (to Photographers) of Studying Great Paint- ers " and Professor Charles H. Moore's talk on the ** Artistic Element in Photography." Then Mr F. Holland Day spoke on " Photography as a Fine Art " and Mr. Denman W. Ross on ** How Design May Enter Photography " Thus it is the relation of these topics to photography that makes them of value to the camera worker.
H. W. Eliot,
Cor. Sec.
The many friends of Mr. J. A. Gallagher of the Scovill & Adams Co. of New York, will be in- terested to learn of his marriage, August 22nd. to Miss Louise Campbell Beck. We are sure one and all will join us in hearty congratulations and best wishes for a prosperous future.
Beginning with the January number, 1901, radical changes will be made in the Photo- graphic Times, particulars of which will be announced later. Meanwhile we ask readers to send in any suggestions that may occur to them which, if adopted, would make the Times of even greater usefulness.
In an early issue, we shall resume the critiques on photographers, which have been such a feature of the Times. Miss Virginia Prall, of Washington, will be the subject of the next article, to be followed by a review of the work of Mesdames Flint and Wade, of Buffalo. Both of these critiques will be from the pen of Miss Czara A. Johnson.
One of the most interesting innovations in the dry-plate trade is that which the well-known firm of G. Cramer Dry Plate Co. have initiated. This firm announces that hereafter all boxes of plates put out by them, will be protected with a label, limiting the time within which the plates should be used for best results. This is a step in the right direction, especially in the case of isochromatic plates, which, as is well known, rapidly lose their isochromatic qualities.
We take pleasure in announcing that the American Annual of Photography and Pho- tographic Times Almanac for 1901, or as it is popularly called The Times Annual, will be ready for distribution October ist. It is not necessary to mention anything concerning its long line of predecessors (the forthcoming volume is the fifteenth of the series) other than to state that the same high degree of selection that has marked this book above all others, covering both text and illustrations, is fully maintained. To quote a recent remark, the
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Editorial Notes
473
AN OLD. SALT
Geo. Hankins.
various editors have fully appreciated that noth- ing but the best is good enough for The Amer- ican Annual. The 1901 volume has been com- piled on these lines. " Nothing but the best " has been used in the making of this book. We are, therefore, bold enough to think that The Annual for 1901 maintains its past high reputa- tion as being " Tlie Annual of the Year."
The literary contents cover a range of topics that have to do with all phases of photography, each article being written by an authority on the particular subject, therefore making it of lasting value. Mr. Jos. T. Keiley whose name is synonymous with all advance in photography has taken for his subject ** Photography and Progress," and has written an exhaustive essay on the Universality of Photography and its ap- plications to the various requirements of man- kind. This essay, in point of literary style and argument is far in advance of the usual Annual article. Mr. Henry Wenzel, Jr.'s, article treats of a subject with which he is thoroughly con- versant. The Gum-Bichromate Process has been most carefully studied by Mr. Wenzel, and
he has in his article on this up-to-date process, gone into particulars, giving our readers the full benefit of his experiments on various grades of paper, etc., with exact details as to how to coat, print, and develop the print. The article is well illustrated with reproductions from some of his gum studies, showing the dif- ferent effects produced by using various papers. The subject of orthochromatic photography is one that is always being brought before the amateur, but Mr. Newton Emmens has managed to condense into a comparatively short mono- graph on this subject a great deal of valuable matter covering the History, Theory, and Prac- tice. The paper will prove a valuable one to amateurs, even though it may not contain any new matter.
For those who follow photography for other than pleasure, excellent suggestions will be found in Mr. Gilson Willets' " Markets for Amateur Photographs." Mr. Willets gives the names of the various publications that are in the market for pictures, and states what each is in the habit of accepting. The article is well
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EdUonal Notes
[October
illustrated by a series of photographs showing what an edition will and will not accept.
Robert Demachy, whose name is prob- ably better known than any other pic- torial photographer, has a short but very | able article on "The Training of the Photographer in View of Pictorial Re- sults.'* The veteran dry-plate maker, John Carbutt, writes instructively on "Doctoring the Negative"; R. B. Lewis shows, with working drawing, "A Device for Taking Photographs Automatic- ally," and for those whose parses are deep enough, and have a soul above the kitchen sink for developing purposes, Mr. Edwards- Ficken, the well-known architect, gives work- ing-drawings and description of an elaborate dark-room. Other articles, of more than usual interest and instructiveness are by Messrs. J. Wells Champney, Wm. D. Murphy, Wm. E. Carlin, J. C. Warburg. Francis Barklie, Milton Punnett, F. H. Worsley- Benison, and many others whose names for lack of space we must omit mentioning.
I WMITEBCLLICD TCHIS.
rom the American Annual of
Wm. E. Curl in. PhotoRraphy lor igoi.
RODERICK. T. At. Edmitton.
From the Americau Annual of Phototfraphy for 1901.
A special feature and one entirely new in Annuals, is the department, Photo-Paragraphs, compiled by Henry Wenzel. Jr., and the Editor. In this department the amateur, and the pro- fessional, too, will find many liltle items of usefulness ; little things not to be found in instruction books or magazines.
The appendix, containing formulae and tables, has been entirely overhauled with the result that a mass of obsolete matter has been stricken out and all formulae pertaining to plates and papers of present day manufacture, inserted, making the book of great practical value. The list of American Photographic Clubs is also as complete as it has been possible to make it.
With regard to illustrations, " they speak for themselves." They form a prominent record of what our photographers have achieved up to the end of the nineteenth century. Scarcely any of the well-known names are missing, and it is essentially an American collection as but few foreign pictures are shown. Eight pictures are in two printings, reproducing as near as possible the originals handed into us. An Albertype print of one of Mrs. Kasebier's latest pictures shows this artist's wonderful skill in composition. A print on argo shows the beauty of this developing paper, and there are over eighty other full page illustrations, and num- berless smaller half-tone cuts scattered through- out the book, making it the most profusely illustrated volume published. And quality has in no wise given way to quantity.
Camera Notes, organ of the Camera Club, N. Y., for September, has just come to hand, and it is an interesting number, though weak in literary matter with the exception of Fuguet's and Hinton's articles. We refer more particularly to the article "L'Homme QuiRit," — author unknown — to quote a phrase
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Editoriat Notes
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|
!S 1 |
L |
|
eHlLDRCN OP THC QHCTTO.'
MaxintUian Toch.
From The American Annual of Photography for 1901.
in said article. Personalities are never in place in well conducted periodicals, and we have much regretted that many of our esteemed contemporaries have seen fit to "talk back," filling their paper with matter of interest to them only, and not their readers at large. We have, therefore, intentionally avoided being drawn into the maelstrom of argument as to whether this set or that set of photographers is right in their ideas and their aims, believing that when the matter had come to a vortex, it would gradually quicken out and disappear into the smooth flowing current of ordinary photo- graphic existence. But an article in this num- ber of the Camera Notes on one of our most esteemed contributors has led us to break our rule for once. In "L'Homme Qui Rit," the author or authors unknown, who are speaking for themselves and not for the Club we take it.
refer to certain comedies published under the pseudonym of "A Smiler," the cleverness of which is admitted. Osborne I. Yellott, whose name has frequently appeared in these pages, is the author of these comedies, as our esteemed brethren of the craft, including the Editors of "Camera Notes,'* all know, and the attempt by the "unknown" author or authors of "L'Homme Qui Rit" to belittle Mr. Yellott, would be ridiculous in the extreme and entirely unworthy of such a reputable publication as "Camera Notes," but for the fact that the article was written in the same spirit as the comedies to which it refers and not with the serious intent which, at first blush, would appear to be the case. However, the authors have thrown a boomerang which will un- doubtedly come circling back with gathered force.
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At the Paris Exposition, the Actien Gesellschaft fiir Anilin Fabrikation, the manufacturers of so many of the newer developers, were awarded the gold medal for the excellence of their products.
The Lansing (Mich.) Camera Club announces to all amateur photographers that their club rooms at 113 Michigan Avenue, East, are at their disposal when they are visitinjaf our city.
The club's officers are President, O. T. Allen; Vice- President, Miss May McKibbin; Secretary, Miss Mae Wagner; Treasurer, F. J. Hopkins.
Hammer's "Little Book" has reached another edition, and appears in a new and very dainty cover. It brings forward some new formulae, and also devotes space to formulae for the new Lantern Slide Plate being manufactured by the Hammer Dry Plate Co. The book- let also contains much valuable information on the work- ing of dry plates in general. Send to St. Louis for a copy. The Hammer people make no charge for it.
The Blair Camera Co. announce a new camera, the No. 3 Folding Weno Hawkeye. Compact as it is, this camera nevertheless takes a 3}^ ^ 4X picture, is fitted
with a double lens, with a new B. and L. Shutter, etc It fits with ease into a coat pocket, and is without doubt one of the smallest, neatest cameras made, taking a picture of the size given above, and the price is only $15.
The Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., Rochester. N. Y., are again adding to their lens-making plant. The pres- ent building has a floor area of 138.000 square feet The new wing is 96 feet long and 22 feet deep, the whole having a floor area of nearly 40,000 square feet. The Roebling Construction Company, builders of the Brook- lyn Bridge, have the work in hand, their fire-proof con- struction being employed throughout. As the larger wing will be used for the grinding and polishing of pho- tographic lenses, it is constructed with the utmost solidity, the piers of which the walls are composed being three feet thick at their bases.
Huge windows occupy the spaces between the piers, admitting an abundance of light. The floors are especi- ally designed to prevent vibration, being tested to 4,000 pounds per square foot, or a total weight for the build- ing of 160,000,000 pounds.
About half of the smaller wing willbe occupied by vaults for the storage of valuable material such as optical glass.
THE LAST OLOW.
Chicago Salon^ jgoo. From The American Annual of Photography for 1901
r. J. Preston, Jr.
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Notes and News
Ml
The Society of Oerman Amateur Photographers
annouuce that their Annual Photographic Exhibition will be held on November 3d and 4th, 1900, at 12 St. Mark's Place, New York, and that all amateur photo- graphers and those who are interested in photography are invited to visit the same. Amateur photographers who desire to exhibit their photos will please apply at once for particulars to the Society of German Amateur Photographers, 210 5th Street, New York.
Photographic Workers know by experience that summer is a very trying season on all photographic papers, but the Disco and Argo have given the best satisfaction of any so far this season. At least, such is the impression we have gathered, and it is well to give a few points which may help the amateur in guard- ing absolutely against frilling.
With disco paper we would advise that the first wash- ing water be made from 90 to 95 degrees warm, and the prints left in this water from five to six minutes; then washed in cool water as usual .
The best formula for developing the argo developing paper is the following :
Amidol 2^ grammes
Sulphite of soda powder xo grammes
Water 500 grammes
Solution of bromide of potash, one to ten, four to five drops in the 500 grammes of water.
In order to obtain the very best results it is best to take about 400 grammes of water and make the rest of the 500 grammes by allowing a piece of ice to melt. The colder the developer, the finer the prints will be: and not alone this; it is very much easier to control the paper if the solution is cold, for when the solution is cold it does not attack the gelatine film, allowing only the chemicals to reduce the image.
*«i always tcil women/' said a well-known photog rapher, "that they ought to be photographed with as few clothes on as possible. I don't mean by that advice that they should do the least thing to bring the blush of shame to the most modest cheek. 1 only want them not to make their dress too modern and characteristic of the styles of the moment. Nothing makes a picture look so very much out of the mode as some costume of fifteen or twenty years ago, which may have been the smartest thing possible at that time. But fashions change so positively that few of them are tolerable to look at after a decade. On the other hand, a woman who has been photogiaphed with only the head and bust revealed, will never give any sign of the passage of time in the appearance of the picture. She will not have the anti- quated, out-of-date look that makes some photographs ridiculous. Puffed sleeves were worn only five years ago, but the picture of a woman taken in one of these dresses is really absurd. Even greater than the changes in the style of gowns is the difference that comes in hats. Women who had their photographs taken in the style of bonnet worn fifteen years ago must feel like laughing at themselves now. Even jewelry has its
effect, as the picture of a woman that I saw the other day very plainly showed. She had on an old-fashoned set of coral earrings, bracelets, pin, and everthing that used to belong to the ** set." She was disfigured by these orna- ments. Nobody would have thought of paying any atten- tion to her face, as the coral jewelry absorbed all the attention of the .spectator. It is for such reasons as this that I always tell woman who want to continue satisfied with their pictures that they should have only the head and shoulders taken and drape them with a lace scarf or something else that might have belonged to any time or period and is not going to look absurdly out of fashion after a year or two. Extremely simple dress sometimes may accomplish the same purpose. But the light drap- ing is always more certain. I can remember when women had a passion for being photographed in snow- storms. The heavier the storm the more they liked it, and the more closely they clutched the fur muffs they always carried in these pictures. It is only necessary to look at one of them now to realize how mistaken all such attempts at eccentric pictures are.— A^. K. Sun,
THC STUB AM. Prexcott A damson.
From The American Annual of Photography for 1901.
Digitized by
Tm eoiTORS TABbe.
^
A Handbook of Photography in Colors. Section I by Thomas Bolas; Section II by Alexander A. K. Tallent; Section III by Edgar Senior.
This is the most important work on color photography that has yet appeared, and will undoubtedly be the means of bringing the various known processes to a still greater perfection, and also of opening up new methods through further experimentation induced by the reading of this thoroughly standard book. In the first section, Thomas Bolas gives briefly the historical development of heliochromy, or photography in colons — a general sur- vey of the subject, with short descriptions of the various processes. In Section II Alexander Tallent takes up the subject of tri-color photography, and writes very exhaustively both on the theory and the practice.
Section III is a short monograph by Edgar Senior on the Lippmann process of interference heliochromy with formulae for the preparation of the emulsion and for the developing solutions, etc.
It is a most interesting work, and will be needed by every one studying the chemistry of photography and the many problems that remam yet to be solved. E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., New York, Publishers.
La Photographie Artlstique, by H. Emery.
This sumptuous book is intended to show the amateur how to become an artist in his work, and the author covers a variety of subjects, including composition, strong and weak points, choice of subject, lighting, etc., etc., to that end. The illustrations, of which there are many, mostly in photogravures, are all by the author. Mr. Emery is undoubtedly better in precept than in practice, as many of his illustrations decidedly lack in composition and choice of subject. Charles Mendel, Paris, Publisher.
The Carbon Process, No. 17 of the Photo-Miniature.
A remarkably lucid rendering of a process, which is difficult because it requires an expertness that the be- ginner does not possess, but which once mastered is as far ahead of all other printing methods as platinum is
ahead of the plain silver print. The illustrations in this number are somewhat weak and void of interest. The next issue, Chemical Notions for Photographers, by Thomas Bolas, promises to be an interesting one. Ten- nant & Ward, New York. Publishers.
Joel Chandler Harris will furnish the introduction to • * Down South," a book of reproductions of Rudolf Eicke- meyer, Jr.'s, beautiful photographs of picturesque negro life, which will be published early in the Fall. Mr. Eickemeyer, who is a member of the Camera Club, and has won enviable fame with his artistic photography, has also contributed a series of remarkable pictures of ** truly children " to make an attractive book called ** In and Out of the Nursery." The verses and songs by Eva Eickemeyer Rowland are merry and rollicking, and written about the real children in the pictures, for chil- dren and lovers of children. Both books are to be beautiful in make-up, and will come from the publishing house of
R. H. Russell, 3 West 29th Street. New York.
Coming at an opportune time in the interest awakened in China, is a beautiful color book about the little Chinese children to be published by R. H. Russell in September, under the title of **The Moon Babies." Miss Helen Hyde, whose charming drawings are repro- duced in colors and black-and-white, has captured the oriental fun, fancies, and costumes of the quaint little people, and Miss. G. Orr Clark tells all about them in jingling verses which cannot fail to interest the more fortunate young people on this side of th^ earth, as well as their elders.
R. H. RussKLL, 3 West 29th Street, New York.
A Joyous Journey Round the Year. An Almanack for 1901. ** The Log Book of the Ship Bonaventure out of Mil- lamours bound for Jourdel'an, through the 1^'our Seasons, touching at various Holiday Posts." An allegory by Gelett Burgess, decorated in colors by A. Garth Jones. Size 7x12 inches. Printed on heavy paper. Price, $1
WHKN THE FLOWIMO TIOK COMBS IN.'
//. A. Beasley,
Digitized by
TH0UaHT8 OF OTMC« DAYS.
From •* Down South,'" by Rudolph Eickemey^r^ Jr,
Copyright y igoo, by Robert Howard Russell. Pubu«hed by r, h. Runeii.
Digitized by
THE THOTOGRATHIC IIMES %E(X)RD
Of G>mpetftions Open to Photographers*
|
NAME |
ADDRESS |
SUBJECT |
PRT/.KS |
CLOSING DATE |
RESTRICilONS |
REMARKS |
|
Ladles^ Home Jotsrnal |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
Attractive Outdoor Scenes in the Country |
1 at $150.00 1 at 100.00 1 at 76.00 1 at 50.00 1 at 85.00 10 at 10.00 |
November 1, 1900 |
See Journal for April |
Address Art Bureau |
|
Ladles^ Home Journal |
Philadelphia, Fa. |
City Back Yards |
1 at $50.00 1 at S5.00 1 at 10.00 |
October 1, 1900 |
See Journal |
Address An Bureau |
|
Indianapolis Preis |
Indianapolis, Ind. |
Changed Bi- weekly |
$5.00, $3.00 and $5.00 |
Bi-weekly |
Must use Coupon Amateurs only |
See Paper |
|
Leslie's Weekly |
New York, N. Y. |
Recent Cur- rent Events |
$5.00 Cash |
Weekly |
Amateurs No Copyright Pictures |
$1 paid for each photograph used |
|
Leslie's Weekly |
New York |
Paris Exposition |
$20.00 |
November 1 |
See Paper |
$2 paid for each photograph used |
|
Leslie's Weekly |
New York. |
Negro Life, Summer Re- sorts, Indian Life, etc. etc. |
$10 00 Each Class |
Weekly |
See Paper |
|
|
Patent Record |
Baltimore, Md. |
Unique Sub- jects and Re- cent Current Events |
$5.00, $8.00 and $3.00 |
16th of each month |
Amateurs |
See Paper |
|
MaH and Express |
New York, N. Y. |
General |
$5.00 Weekly |
Amateurs 1 No Pictures Re- No Copyright Pictures | turned |
||
|
IlL Buffalo Express |
Buflfalo. N. Y. |
Cash |
Nov. 15, 1900 |
Photographs pub- See Paper lished and paid for liberally |
||
|
The American Boy |
Detroit, Mich. |
No Set Sub- ject |
$2.00 |
Monthly |
$1. paid for each photograph used |
|
|
The Camera |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
Cats, Kittens. Tabbies. |
$8.00 $2.00 |
Nov. 26, 1900 |
Amateurs only |
See Paper |
|
Western Camera Notes |
Minneapolis, Minn. |
Marines Sea or Lake |
Materials |
Sept. 80 |
Subscribers and Ama- „ ., ». teursonly. See Rules. Held Monthly |
|
|
Photo Beacon |
ChicaKO. Chicago. |
Genre 1 Pictures | Snap-shot Pictures |
Books |
Sept. 80 |
See Rules. |
Held Monthly |
|
Photo Beacon |
Books |
October 81, _ _ , 1900 See Rules |
Held Monthly |
|||
|
Cottage and Castle New York General |
$5.00 Cash |
15th of each month Amateurs only |
See Rules |
|||
|
Outdoor Life ^^iT' |
1,000 Grain Silver Medal |
Use Coupon |
Held Monthly See Magazine |
|||
|
Photo-American New York |
Portraits |
Books and Materials |
|
Coupon must be ^ ., Stached See Magazine |
||
|
1 Photo-American j New York |
1 Landscapes |
Books and Materials |
Coupon must be attached See Magazine |
|||
|
Harmsworth Magazine |
London, Eng. Glastonbury, Conn. |
General Figures of Jersey Cows or Milkmaids |
lat $500 lat 100 lat 25 _20at 5_ 1 at $100 lat 40 lat 15 Sat 10 5 at 5 |
September 80, 1900 |
None |
Address Editor |
|
J. B. Williams Co. |
October 1, None 1900 |
Address Photo department |
||||
|
Twentieth Century Qub |
Boston, Mass |
Disfigure- ment by Ad vertisements |
$25 |
October 1 1«00 |
Refers to Mass. Highways only |
Send to Club, 2 Ashburion Place, Boston |
|
Northwestern Amateur \u^^^' |
Supplies |
Amateurs only. |
See Rule |
All publications holding competitions open to photographers are invited to send in full particulars of same for insertion in above Record, as it is desired to make it as complete as possible.
Digitized by
CXIl.
JR DOLLARS PER ANNUM
[THE NEVt
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VEMBER, 1900^
SINdLE COPIES, 35
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CAN-ILLUSTRATE] '/VONTHLY-^GAZINEl DEVOTED-TO-THE INTERESTS-OF-^ ARTISTICSrSCIENTiriCi # FHOTOGRAPm:
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ASSOCIATION*3*ank5*WEST*19TH*ST.-NEW*YOW
:dfiiLfi
mm)Wi^i\r • -fllll' Jm:r dA
CONTENTS
Frontispiece — Daisies— By Arthur Hewitt.
The Pictorial Movement— By Arthur Hewitt 481
A Break in the Clouds— By W. C. Baker— Illustra- tion 481
Study of a Child— By Arthur Hewitt— Illustration . . 482
Portrait — ^By Arthur Hewitt— Illustration 483
Three Eminent Critics — By Arthur Hewitt— Illus- tration •. 484
Strangers Now 485
Agfa-Intensifier— From Notes by Fritz Hansen 485
Portrait— By Arthur Hewitt— Illustration 485
Myself — By Author Hewitt— Illustration 486
The Exhibition Season 487
Portrait— By Arthur Hewitt— Illustration 487
A Summer Landscape— By N. Brock— Illustration. 488
Slumber— By C. Puyo— Illustration 489
The Street— By Dallett Fuguet— Illustration 491
Uncle Remus — By H. A. Beasley — Illustration 492
Gossip— By Virginia M. Prall — Illustration 493
A Mute Appeal— By Ima Spencer — Illustration . . . 494
Harvard Camera Club 495
Roses— By A. J. Schaeffer — Illustration 495
Our Monthly Digest 496
Old Men tone— By Robert Demachy— Illustration. . . 497 The Citadel at Wuertzburg — By Benjamin Sharp- Illustration 498
At the Sea-Shore— By Geo. D. Firmin— Illustration 500
Study— By Eduard Mathes — Illustration . 501
Swampland — By T. O'Conor Sloan, Jr. — Illustration 502 Cornwall and a Bit of Happiness— By Adelaide
Skeel 503
A Charcoal Effect— By Mary Devens— Illustration . 505 A Critic Who Needs Criticising— By Frederic Felix 505 A Mountaineer — By R. N. Brock— Illustration 506
The Anchorage— By H. A. Beasley— Illustration. . . 507 Some Photographic Experiments on the Penetration by Sunlight of the Tissues of the Body— By J.
W. Kime, M.D.— Illustrated 508
With Jane Colden at Colden Hill— By Adelaide
Skeel 509
Coming Home from the Harvest Field — By Th.
Hofmeister— Illustration 511
Tinnicum in Winter — By Amelia Van Buren — Illus- tration 512
Testing the Speed of a Shutter— By W. A. Ingram —
Illustrated 513
The Photographic Salon, Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts— By W. P. L 514
In the Fold^By Henry Troth- Illustration 515
A Holbein Woman— By Frances and Mary Allen —
Illustration 516
Lantern Slide Making for Beginners— By Primroie
Hill 516
The Pine by the Bam— By W. C. Baker— Illustra- tion 518
Child with Oak-Fring^e — By Eva Lawrence Watson
— Illustration 519
Editorial Notes 520
A Bit of Nuremburg— By William M. Page— Illus- tration 522
Salute to the Dawn— By C. Puyo— Illustration 523
A Sprite — By Margaret M. Russell— Illustration. ... 52 3
Notes and News 524
Mrs. G.— By Mathilde Weil— Illustration 526
Doris and Her Mother — By Rose Clark and Eliza- beth Flint Wade— Illustration 52 7
Study of a Girl's Head— By Allen Drew Cook— Illus- tration 527
The Photographic Times Record 528
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ASSOCIAnON^3vA«i)v5*WEST*t9TH^ST.^NEW^YORK.
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CONTENTS
PAGE
Frontispiece — Landing of the Boats— By Alfred
Stieglitz opposite 529
Important Annotmcement 529
A Century of Applied Photography — By E. Lingan
Bowlus 529
Hard Work — By W. Blackburn — Illustration 529
The Old Mill— By W. P. Agnew—Illustration 530
The Kitten's Breakfast — By Rudolph Eickemeyer,
Jr.— Illustration 533
The Flower Girl — By H. Heidentraus — Illustration . 534
A Styrian Mill — By Max Helf— Illustration 535
Ancient Rome— By Count von Gloeden — Illustra- tion 536
Imogen, A New Developing Substance — By G.
Gaedickel 537
Along the Blue Danube — By Karl Mossl — Illustra- tion 537
Stony Point — By Adelaide Skeel 538
Illustration — Virginia M. Prall 539
Portrait of Self in Sicilian Costume — By Count von
Gloeden 540
The Philosopher— By N. Brock — Illustration 541
Lantern-Slide Making for Beginners — By Primrose
Hill 542
The Willows— By W. C. Baker— Illustration 543
Life Behind a Dealer's Counter 545
Our Monthly Digfest 546
Study— By Moreno— Illustration 547
Old Mill— By C. L. Baer— Illustration 548
Viennese Landscape^By Adolph Karl Lowe— Illus- tration 549
PAGB
Angling is like the virtue of Humility -' ^ ■ .locent
By Wm. Geo. Oppenheim — 1 r. ti; ns. . . 551
Illustration — By Carl Pietzner 553
Becalmed— By Robert S. Redfield— Ill'ri!ri'.i;r;r ... 554
Illustration — By Peter Wolfbauer 555
Winter — By L. V. Kupper— Illustration 556
Almost a Tragedy— By Will A. Dahl. 557
Autumn— By Demachy— Illustration 558
The Intematural Congjress of Photography at Paris
— By S. L. Sheldon 558
The Lecture that was Not Delivered— By David B.
Talmadge 559
Illustration— By A. J. Shaeffer 559
Nude Study— By Count von Gloeden — Illustration . 561 Recent Photographic Studies— By Dr. R. W. Shu-
feldt 563
Young Owl— By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt— Illustration. . 563
Dr. Shufeldt in his Study — Illustration 563
Life Study of a Child — Illustrations 564
Birds' Eggs— By Dr. Shufeldt— Illustration 565
Right Lateral View of the Skull of an American
Flamingo— By Dr. Shufeldt — Illustration 566
The Pine Gate— By W. C. Baker— Illustration 567
Editorial Notes 568
Notes and News 570
Illustrations 571
The MuUer Half-Tone Hammer— By Bertel O.
Henning— Illustrated 57a
Evening in the Clematis Thicket— By W. J. Mullins
— Illustration 575
Finis— By Walter G. Bertling— Illustration 576
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rUBIJC LISRARY.
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILIEN FOUNDATIONS.
Digitized by
X
cHooMe t:^lGxa.^
DAISIES.
BV ARTHUR HEWITT.
\
Digitized by
-^'«*^— ^^^
.■y5^
><y*>T<^*
'% Itn •■*"
■'■.■.V:':v:4
«5r ;
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'^ I. XX/ ii
TIIFI Pir»OK
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1
t- 1 •
A BR'AK IM r»<C -.lC.j>.»
Copyright, jgoo, by The Scovill & Adams Co. gf New York. Eatered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y., Post Office.
Digitized by
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Vol. XXXII.
NOVEMBER, 1900.
THE PICTORIAL MOVEMENT.
An Afterword.
BY ARTHUR HEWITT.
No. II.
[PUBLIC LIBRARY
;STOR, LENOX AND JIi!^l^^^DAT,ON8.
IF I thought it were necessary to have fol- lowed, studied, and learned the cardinal tenets of art of all schools and ages, before an opinion of any worth could be expressed relative to any art matter, this article would not have been written. As it is, I rather aver that to many the knowledge of art comes by inspiration rather than by training, and he who creates has all right to, and, nay, must stand by his own work, and proclaim what he thinks it to be, rather than depend for the ac- ceptance of it to any acknowledged leader or any fallible critic.
That the productions of the camera have found a place among the " fine arts," few will dispute; photographs are hung in our foremost art galleries and that should suffice. The pur- pose I have in mind as I write is to set forth some of the fundamental matters involved and to suggest some of the more evident errors which have crept into this pic- torial movement in photography, and if very plain and somewhat personal in my statements I am so alone in the hope that they may have some weight ^ ,„^k ,n th. cloud..
toward the furtherance of the ultimate raising of the standard of photography to the highest respect of and widest influence upon the people.
Some of the errors I will first enumerate : (i) Narrowness of thought and decision, be- gotten, truly enough, perhaps, of a tireless energy on the part of the salon juries to admit only the very best.
(2) Impressionism tainted with affectation, has been very apparent in much of the work shown, chiefly 1 think because of an overfelt fear that the mechanical limitations of the camera would be too apparent, the workers for- getting that any human product that is true and earnest, however weak, has a permanent value to futurity, but the affectaticfti of any of the qualities of art, however it may temporarily succeed when novel, is in time thrown into the
W. C. Baker.
Copyright, igoo, by The Scovill & Adams Co. gf New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y., Post Office,
Digitized by
482
The Pictorial Movement
[November
rruDV or a
CHILD.
Arthur Hewitt.
rubbish heaf). While I have seen glycerine de- veloped prints of great beauty, I am afraid most are impregnated with affectation.
(3) A too definite desire seems to have been indulged in to overestimate and encourage the work of a very small circle, who call themselves the " American School " (others have dubbed them ''the cult'*). This select few delight in productions suffused with mystery, often in- coherent in fuzziness, and at times subject mat- ter hideously ugly is chosen and gloried in— at which an educated public is apt to laugh, and art critics sneer.
(4) A boasted encouragement in reducing the number of works accepted at the Salons year
by year, thereby the inference is, of course, created, that the standard of merit consists in annually decreasing the percentage of pictures accepted and the question of a general improve- ment throughout the country is ignored. (See Camera Notes, p. 69. Vol. IV. No. i, 1900).
(5) A very pronounced effort of the Eastern leaders to discourage any other salon, save the ones in which they personally figure.
(6) A claim that each and every photograph made by one person should be equally stamped with his or her individuality, not allowing (that which is, I judge, very often necessary at this largely experimental stage of the movement) a wide variation in technique or style.
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igoo]
The Pictorial Movement
483
Arthur Heivitt.
(7) A demand for sentiment and a ** story told" with each and every picture. I hardly think this is applicable to portraiture and work of a very high order exists in this particular class without the above qualities.
While I have made no hesitation in setting forth these errors, I do not wish to be misinter- preted; the pictorial movement has come to stay; its fundamental principles are true and sound; all honor to our pioneer, Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, who, with what must have been relent- less energy, has followed his art with the highest aims — an art well worthy of the closest pos- sible study. High attainment in technique has
given him the ability to express with perfect freedom his motives, and the necessity for re- course to the commonplace or bizarre he knows not. Mr Stieglitz's individuality simply shows the existence of dignified artistic impulse, and is never degraded into eccentricity Even his glycerine prints do not wander, and in no way have semblance to the stupid blurrs so incidental to that process. As I write, I feel I cannot applaud this man too highly: he has been our past and I believe and hope he will lead our future, and be an immense weight in properly balancing the scale of art influences in photog- raphy. That we have need of him at this
Digitized by
484^
The Pictorial Movement
[November
IMRCC CMINCNT CRITICS.
Arthur Hewitt.
moment there is little doubt, and I ask of him, as do many others, to continue to lend his valuable and well balanced energies to this cause.
Rather than see this pictorial photography movement develop to maturity without a healthy infancy (and by maturity I mean the subtlest forms of a school of art), I want breadth, such breadth as Mr Murphy, the Pres- ident of the Camera Club of New York, re- cently expressed in the following able words:
"... Open to all artistic suggestions, styles, and schools, definitely committed to no one cult or clique . . . On this broad base we may safely face the future with its doubts and hopes, drawing comfort in moments of dis- appointment from Ruskin's aphorism, which relates to other things as well as art. * Greater completion marks the progress in art, absolute completion usually its decline.' "
Let me emphasize this plea for breadth, as
perhaps the chief point in my article. Rather than let this movement live a narrow bigoted sort of existence, and be felt only by a favored few, why not let it penetrate everywhere; especially into the ranks of. the professional photographers ? The aesthetic taste of to-day will then pooh-pooh the trade photo-artist of yester- day; and demand such work in the possession of which life is ennobled and enriched, such work as Mrs. Gertrude Kasebier, for instance, can create. I speak whereof I know, for 1 have at this moment two prints of hers hanging on the walls of my sitting-room depicting wife and child, and every day a new story is told by them, and they are a "thing of joy for ever." As a professional photographer myself, even though I be but a beginner, I have learned this, that once the public has become educated you and I are doomed, unless we can produce portraits which speak of life, character, and harmony.
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Afgd'Intensifier
485
I think, however, in this realm of work, we must at present take art in its broadest accepta- tions and study it in the most universal phases of the manifestation of its spirit (and create pho- tographs whose influence will be felt even on the lesser cultivated natures), rather than in its more complicated forms.
In closing I would say to the disappointed and dissatisfied, Work on, Work ever If your work is condemned by " the powers that be," no matter; the powers of to-day will not be the powers of to-morrow, and in any event the work of the artist must be done for its own sake, and it will find in its doing its sufficient reward.
STRANGERS NOW.
She loved him once but now he's 'neath her ban, (Too bad he spoiled the game,)
When showing him her photograph, poor man. He only praised th^ frame.
AGFA-INTENSIFIER.
FROM NOTKS BY FRITZ HANSEN.
INTENSIFICATION belongs to one of those processes which have received scant attention during the course of the last few years. The improvement that can be effected on a weak, thin negative, or one without con- trasts, which otherwise would have been destroyed, rendering valuable many plates otherwise useless, singles this process out for greater attention, as even the experienced operator does not always succeed in obtaining perfect negatives. The different modes of in- tensification are naturally of great importance, as with the use of dry plates the process has become more difficult than in the days of the wet process.
Ordinarily there are two methods employed. The most important, being, as is well known.
Arthur //tnvift.
Digitized by
486
Agfd'Intensifier
I November
the mercury process, the silver image being first bleached out with a solution of bichlo- ride of mercury. Then follows a long and tedious washing, and the bleached image has to be reblack- ened in various solutions, such as ammonia, silver cy- anide, soda sulphite, etc., and then the plate has to be washed again. Be- sides being a very complicated me thod, the process has the disadvantages of un- certainty of action and others too well known to need recapitulation.
Another favored formula for intensi- fication is that of the uranium method, which can ^be done in one operation, but the red-brown color which the image as- sumes, is not partic- ularly stable, and it is impossible to judge the strength of the image, and, although the plate may have been suffi- ciently intensified, after some time the color fades and it is necessary to go all through the process again, besides which the solution has to be made up as re- quired, being of very bad keeping prop- erties and having to be used immediately.
Agfa-Intcnsifier keeps indefinitely, and in- tensifies with only one manipulation, giving a gray black color. A second blackening
is quite unnecessary, as the image will obtain the right color at once without stains and without blotches or pinholes. It is only neces- sary to dilute the solution as purchased with
ten parts of water and into this the negative to be in- tensified is im- mersed, the dish being rocked mean- while. In this bath the plates remain until the desired grade of intensifica- tion is arrived at, which is easily judged by trans- mitted light. In two minutes intensifica- tion has commenced and in a good many cases will prove suf- ficient. The maxi- mum of intensifica- tion takes place within the first ten minu-tes, after which the image becomes gray- white, and becomes more or less re- duced.
SuflScient intensi- fication beingattain- ed, the plate is to be washed for five to ten minutes and dried.
(After Clarence White.)
Several well- known professional photographers use ivarm fixing baths for platinotype prints, and claim that the iron is more readily eliminated by this means. A platinotype image never fades, but becomes yellow in time if there is any iron remaining in the paper.
Arthur Ifeivt'tt.
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T
THE EXHIBITION SEASON*
HE great interest which centers in the yearly Salons — supposed to rep- resent the pick of the year's work — makes us believe that quotations from the reviews in the various photo- graphic journals will meet with a welcome. The '*Linked-Ring" Salon, held yearly in London is the first to open, and of this our English con- temporaries have much to say, espec- ially concerning the American work, which comes in for very severe hand- ling. It should be said, however, that the American pic- tures hung at this Salon, do not, by any w^£?;«j,represent the work being pro- duced by our best photographers. The fact of the matter is that Mr. F. Hol- land Day, before leaving this country for England, sent around a circular to a list of amateurs, selected by himself, asking for speci- mens of their work to take to England. We do not believe that those who sent pictures on this re- quest, had any idea that they were to be offered to and
hung at the London Salon, because the major- ity of those whose work has been so decried in the following paragraphs are capable of
good, sound, sane work, such as need not be ashamed to consort with Hinton's, or Annan's, or Demachy's masterpieces :
The British Journal of Photography. — September*
^Plastic Psycholosfical Syntheses'' at tlie Photo- graphic Salofu
The American Sec- tion is the predominant feature of an exhibition the like of which we have not seen before and upon which we are not eager to look again. It is a difficult thing to take many of these American **photo- graphs "— for so, we suppose, they must in courtesy be styled — quite seriously. With many of the produc- tions of Mrs. KSsebier, Mr. F. Eugene, Mr. Clarence White. Mr. Watts Lee, and Mr. Holland Day, that have excited derision on the other side of the At- lantic, the pages of the American magazines and exhibition cata- logues have long famil- iarized us, and habitual readers of the Journal will not need remind- ing that, between the months of January and August of this year, we reprinted from those publications many ref- erences to the deplor- able travesties of pho- tographic work which a handful of American photographers, encour- aged by the adulatory vvri tings of neurotic ' • appreciators," were deceived into believ- ing '• artistic " or *' pic- torial." These things are to be seen in Pic- cadilly just now, and, no doubt, some of them will be reproduced in books and annuals during the next few months. There will thus be plenty of opportu- nities for English photographers to examine the new- est pictorial work {stc) that has reached them from
Arthur Hewitt.
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a distance, and those of them who are sufficiently inter- ested in the matter to keep in mind what is exhibited year by year will have no difficulty in perceiving that the productions of these very modern amateur photog- raphers are, if anything, less defensible than the mere blurs and fuzztypes that were mostly laughed out of the English exhibitions a few years ago. A specimen of the critical writing, which must in some measure be held re- sponsible for the photographic inanities produced in America and now sent to this country for public exhibi- tion may here be usefully quoted. The critic or ap- preciator has taken the work of Mr. F. Holland Day for his theme:
*' He is a psychologist, ever on the alert, ever seeking for this— to grasp and to express in material form the individual characteristics of his subject. What do I care for the blood flowing beneath the skin, for the network of swelling and throbbing veins? What matters the sight of the straining muscles full of life, if the invisible part, the mystery of this living being, be absent from the picture, if 1 cannot enter into communication with its spirit? I care not how brightly, how truly, the eyes may shine, if I know nothing of the thought, the fancy animating them. Even a flatness, or the projection of a bone, or the irregfularity of a line, a deformity even, gives evidence of some habitual trait which, if at times contradictory, is. nevertheless, always full of interest. . . . As I have said before, Mr. Day*s art is one of delicacy and subtle refinement. To prove this, examine
carefully the figures he so delights in. His subjects are intensely alike with the inner life, they seem heedless of all that might tear them from their own secret dream- ings They make no attempt at futile agitation, but are content with the thoughtful gestures of repose, the special poses and attitudes of pensive grace, in which the artibt has fixed them. Look, for instance, at his portrait of Miss Ben Yusuf. How well he has caught her habit, her ordinary way of being, * all her little ways.' One feels at once that the artist has photographed her with his heart, if such a thing can be said. The portrait thus conceived becomes a plastic psychological synthesis of the person represented."
Plastic psychological synthesis? Plastic psychological fiddlesticks! As we remarked in March last, when re- producing the article of which the above rhodomontade is rn extract, the portrait so referred to was a very ordinary photograph of a tastefully attired young lady leaning against the door of a room. But Mr. Day— of whose striking figure work some few years ago we have the most vivid recollection— is not the only victim of this hysterical foolishness; Mr. Eugene, Mr. Clarence White, and Mrs. Kasebier have all been subjected to it, and, if we may trace back eflfect to cause, these worthy people, who can make good photographs if they choose, devote so much attention to the cultivation of the plastic psychological synthetic that they have clean forgotten all they may have known in their early days, and ob- viously stand in need of a few elementary lessons in
C. Puyc,
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posiog, lightiog. printing, and so forth. Are there no evening polytechnics in New York, Boston, and Phila- delphia ?
Those of us who have watched the drift of that new movement of which so much was said eight or nine years ago. are not astonished that it has culminated in the production of work which is the very negation of good photography. We saw it coming— this Cult of the Spoilt Print. To be in this movement you mnst take a negative hap-hazard and neglect all considerations of lighting, composition, definition, and other devices of the ignorant. Preferably make a portrait of some per- son whose likeness you may wish to bury in a mass of gray shadow. Pay particular attention to your printing process, and select one which gives you a great amount of •• personal control.'* With gum bichromate it is easy to brush away as much of the pigment as you choose* but the process is not one to be recommended save in cases where it is desirable, from some cause or other, to raise strong doubts as to what was in front of the camera when the shutter moved or the cap was taken off. Local development with glycerine and treatment with a salt of mercury is an easy plan of securing ** washed out '* effects, or, failing mercury for the flesh tint, a little of the iron may be left in the paper. It is a splendid yel- lowing agent. Care must be bestowed on the trimming and mounting. If the subject is a portrait, run the knife through the back of the head and shoulder. The edges the print should be left rough. In mounting, any posi- tion but a central one should be chosen. Brown paper is an excellent support for photog^phs, and it takes pencil or brush work well» thus giving you scope for making a feature of your signature or initials, which, however, must be neither legible nor intelligible. The details of framing vary with the individual. A hen-coop supplies very good material for some purposes. On the other hand, the passe-partout system, which went out of fashion a quarter of a century* ago; nowadays looks novel and uncommon.
And of such is the Cult of the Spoilt Print! Surely in this matter the lowest depths of folly have been plumbed! It is a small, as well as a painfully poor. Exhibition, and exceedingly dear at a shilling, we are bound, in common honesty, to remark, unless the visitor, to quote the phrase from Pickwick y " takes it out " in tea. Behind the Scenes (No. 50). by Mr. Demachy, is a clever study of danseuses at the wings of a theatre, printed in gum, of which process Mr. Demachy is by far the ablest ex- ponent. We admire the consistency with which Mr. J. M. C. Grove sticks to his ideas of what constitutes pic- torial photography. He always showed blurs, and we suppose always will. The *• gums " that he sends here are explained by their titles, without which it would be difficult to say what the subjects were supposed to be. Mr. Eickemeyer has dressed up a pretty girl holding up a pretty child, put nimbi round the head, and calls the result Madonna. It is a very pretty photograph indeed; but, in our humble opinion, sacred and quasi-sacred sub- jects are best avoided by those very unidealizing instru- ments lenses, cameras, and dry plates. Mr. Holland Day adds to our perplexity. For three of his pictures, which to do Mr. Day justice, are not in his ** Spoilt Print " vein, he asks the modest sum of ten guineas each. One is about half- plate siie. entitled Mother and Daughter ^
and is a somewhat sombre little interior group study. We fail to see value for money in this, even granting its possession of plastic psychological synthesis — which we do not.
This exhibition is a curious mixture of the photog- raphically good and bad, with a predominance of the latter. Again and again we looked at some of the things on the walls, only to be forced to the conclusion that they were hung because their merits were of a negative kind. But even a Salon is not all bad. This year, however, the things that are good and admirable are fewer than usual. Of Miss Weil's contributions, she is happiest with a very graceful study. No. 102, Lady with Muff, In fanciful portraiture of this order she is usually success- ful, and her prints have a depth, richness, and vigour which mxike the bilious glycerine-mercury abominations of her compatriots difficult to tolerate. Portraiture of a recognizable kind comes from Mrs. Kasebier— No. 116, Mr. W, H. Lee. The lady will be well adWsed if she sticks to work of this kind, and leaves plastic psychologi- cal syntheses severely alone. A word of praise is due to Miss E. L Watson for (No. 180) Head of a Young Girl, the best of the glycerine prints. The pboto^aphic qualities of the negative are so manifestly good tl^ct we are forced to wonder why ** faking " was considered ne- cessary; a good print could have been obtained in any ordinary medium, such as carbon, sepia platinum, Velox, etc.
As regards the display as a whole a little plain lan- guage becomes a duty, from the performance of which, however unpleasant it may be. it Js a sin to shrink. The Eighth Exhibition of the Photographic Salon is an insult to the public upon whose support it relies to pay rent and other expenses. It does incalculable harm to pho- togfraphy by attracting to it the contempt of those who have no sympathy with the prostitution of a beautiful method of graphic expression to the lamentable idio- syncrasies of those whom Nature, for some inscrutable purpose, has endowed with a pas.sion for the grotesque and the tigly, which may deserve our pity, but neither our admiration nor our imitation. We live in a free country, and fortunately, or unfortunately, there is no law to for- bid people debasing the powers which sixty years of photographic research and progress have placed within their grasp; but when the painful productions of these perverted users of photography are dragged from the im- pregnable security of privacy and held up to public view, then.- in the minds of all sensible photographers, scorn, disgust, and contempt dispute for pride of place.
The Amateur Photogfrapher« — ^September*
The Photographic Salon*
Some leading points there are in connection with the eighth Annual Photographic Salon, some impressions, which can be recorded without reference to one*s note- book, as for instance that there is a notable diminution in the number of excessively heavy frames, resulting in a generally lighter and more pleasant appearance in the gallery; also that the exhibition is not a one-part play, there are not even half-a-dozen pictures which stand so ahead of their fellows that one will remember this year's show solely by their presence. There is a great uniformity in merit throughout the whole 239 pictures, and we quite
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TMK STRCCT.
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concur with what seems to be the general opinion that the Salon of 1900 is the best and most interesting exhibi- tion which during the past seven or eight years the •• Linked Ring " has organized. Throughout the pictures hung there is practically nothing which can be described as commonplace, and though there are many which will perhaps be described as * extreme," yet are there none which seem to be wantonly eccentric And we say this after making allowance for the fact that after a little time that which strikes us as unusual comes to be ac- cepted without surprise; albeit, if what we have said is true, there is no greater proof of the sanity of the move- ment which petulant critics aforetime called ** insane," than the manner in which almost universally a welcome is accorded to photographs of a kind which the London Photographic Salon alone first dared to exhibit.
The Photographic Salon especially holds out en- couragement to those who are working on unconven- tional lines, seeking to give expression to ideas which were formerly considered outside the pale of photog- raphy. Under these circumstances it is quite possible that occasionally work may be admitted the unusualness of which has no other motive than the producer's morbid desire to be eccentric. We say that such may be the case, but fortunately the effect of time and public opin- ion is such that we do not think it can be said that the Photog^raphic Salon has fostered anything the fate of which has not been early determiqed by the automatic action of its own merits or demerits. The photographer is himself prone to cling to the prescribed methods and academic standards by which he himself has learned to use the process successfully, and is therefore astonished and even resentful when he finds ihe traditions which he respects departed from by others, hence it may be that
those who, uninitiated in photographic matters, are capa- ble of appreciating artistic tendencies in others, who will without introduction find most enjoyment in the works shown at the Dudley Gallery; but if the photo- grapher will for a while master his prejudices, and rec- ognize the fact that the exhibited works are selected on account of the intentions and motives of which they give evidence, wholly irrespective of the methods employed, provided only that they are sufficiently correctly de- scribed as ** by photographic means," then we think that such an exhibition as the present cannot but be at once interesting and eventually eminently useful and instruc- tive.
Earliest in the catalogue the works are for the most part from some leading American workers, and for the presence of these this year the public have mainly to thank Mr. F. Holland Day, who has brought to this country a considerable collection of these works. Mrs. Gertrude KSsebicr, Mr. Clarence H. White, and Francis Watts Lee are already well known in this country. To their excellent and talented company are now added other workers such as Frank Eugene, E, J . Steicher, F. C. Baker, Miss S. J. Eddy, Mrs Sarah C. Sears. .Mrs. Elise Cabot, Mrs. William E. Russell, and many others. The American work contributes a rather distinctive note to the Exhibition as a whole. There is a certain similar character which pervades most of them which suggests the existence on the other side of the Atlantic of a school or cult which, consciously or not, is influenced by one or two leaders, and if to most English observers there ap- pears a technical incompleteness and total suppression of almost every quality which we customarily associate with a photograph, for the production of something which is not quite self-explanatory or convincing, let it
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be remembered that the violence of a revolution is gen- erally in proportion to the degree of evil which it seeks tp, reform, and from the standard of the more intelligent photographer, not only in Great Britain but elsewhere, there is a very large amount of photography in America of the commercial and everyday character of such a vulgar - we had almost said brutal — character that an antidote of the most searching kind was necessary. Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, who has long held the premier posititm amongst American pictorial workers, is, in consequence of ill-health and pre-occupation, not exhibiting this year. His work has always appeared most closely allied to the best British work, and therefore holds a unique position; but the American work in London this year, including the contributions of Mr. F. Holland Day himself, is to us exceedingly interesting, even as the pre-Raphaelites and many other offsprings of reaction were interesting and powerful for good.
The Photogfraphic News- September* The Photographic Salon.
The Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Salon was opened on Friday last, at its usual home, the Hall of Mystery, yclept Egyptian ; in Piccadilly, and. after a careful survey; we cannot but say that, on the whole, it is disappointing. There are some fine things, of course, and others which are wofuUy commonplace, and one or two which would certainly, had they been sent into our monthly competitions, not have stood the slightest chance.
We miss from the catalogue the fervent forewords character- ized by the ** smug godling com- placency " that called forth such pitying smiles from the unre- generate, but we learn from it some curious facts. There are in all ninety-five prints by twenty- one members of the General Committee of the Linked Ring, sixty- four prints by foreign ex- hibitors, and only eighty by English exhibitors, making a total of 239 in all. Of the ninety- five members' pictures sixty s'x are English, seventeen French, and twelve Amencan ; of the foreign exhibits by non-mem- bers, fifty-seven came from U. S. A., and seven from France.
This Httle analysis is interest- ing because of the utterances of a well-known writer, who said recently in an American trade catalogue: ** Artistic or pictorial photography in America is but of a very tender age, and in no country are the possibilities of its future greater.*' Now, if this be true, and Americans can have accepted nearly one- third of the total number of pictorial photographs at the Salon whilst yet their art is but of '*a very tender age," what will they do when it comes to a robuster age?
Another quotation from the same writer we may be permitted to make, and this time from the current num- ber of the Bulletin du Photo Club de Paris, He says: •• L'admi.ssion au Linked Ring devint un grand honneur et un brevet de capacity, le €arac1>re international de la Socitflt^ donna (i ses Expositions un int/rSt tout par- ticulier." The italicjx are ours. In this exhibition the internationality is confined to England. France, and America. Thus is photogfraphic history made.
It is a pity that the catalogue, in place of the fore- words, did not have the following passage printed in red: "The notoriety which awaits on mere eccen- tricity is the applause which is indulgently given to the
//. A. Beasley.
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ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATlOrsa.
GOSSIP.
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fool. Chance effects are the antics of a clown, for the jangle or cap and bells, and the praises awarded to each one are of equal value." This is by the same writer. Or we would suggest the following little distich :
Gum, gum. dollops o* gum. Ink, and blood, and wuzzy— Never mind what it is So long as it is fuzzy. Here a blotch and there a splotch, Nothing to be seen but Gum, gum, dollups o' gum- Let it all be fuzzy.
To the frivolous minded there is much food for mirth at this show. For instance, take No. 4, •* Elizabeth," by Clarence H. White. We should call it ** Chair Back and Bare Back," for it rep- resents a young lady in very d6collete costume sitting in a high-backed chair. Again, take No. 24, •^Self Portrait," by E. J. Steichen. of Mil- waukee, U.S.A. We should call this "Wanted. a Pair of Braces," for his trousers are tied up with string. M. Puyo comes out strong in No 18. "Coindu Loge," price £\ i8s. We should say, ** Clothed in a Smile and a Fan," or Nature Unadorned," because this interesting young lady has apparently no clothes on, and tries to hide the fact with a fan. Nos. 56 and 59 look like pieces of well-used blotting-paper. No. 65 is entitled *• Bonne Bouche," and is by Arch. Coch- rane, (£3). We do not quite know what is meant, but we should call it " The Snuff taker." No. 107 ** The Fisherman's Daughter," by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe {£h 6s.) is wrongly titled altogether. It should be called •'Alice through the Aquarium Glass," for the background is impossible sea horses and painted— very much painted — oyster shells, with Alice in front of them.
Such a thing as technique is, of course, abso- lutely foreign to the Salon, but we thought they could spell ; or have they gone in for phonetics ? No. Ill is called **Girl with the Picture" \ or is it a mistake, and should with read tnf Now, the East- enders talk about their *• pictchers," and this girl has got a *• pitcher," alias an ewer.
No. 141, by F. Holland Day (price £\o 10s.), is called ** Young Sicilian"; we should call it *' Mi.ss Tow Hair." No. 152. **A Wet Walk," by E. W. Provost, is good, but why not carry out the sentiment altogether and call it •'A Study in bags " No. 168, "In Arcadia." by Herbert Ar- thur Hess, we mistook at a distance for some bleached earth-worms; we presume, however, they are ancient Britons. No. 1 73 would do for an illustration to the old saying.*' Never bite your nails."
M Puyo again sets us a puzzle in No. 203, "Aubade Matinale " (price £2 ^s.). We believe this means "The Morning Serenade**; but why a young lady should sit out in the open air early in the morning " mid nodings on" and eat bananas — which is how we read this print —beats us altogether. And just here we get another shock, for a representative of one of the daily papers came u^ to us and asked us why Mr. Holland Day charged ;f 10 los. for No. 200, ** The Student." and, when we admitted our ignorance, he had the impertin-
A MUTC A^PCAL.
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ence to ask us whether it was because it was mounted on five different colored bits of paper. We gave it up and had a drink together, which put us in such a good temper that we could most heartily congfratulate Mr. Harold Baker on the title of his print, No. 232. "You are a Funny Man." Harold Baker (£1 5s.). Knock out the inverted commas and the price, and we repeat, You are a funny man. Harold Baker, and add,- Did you ever see a child's hand as you have portrayed the right hand in this portrait, and, having seen it, would you wilfully perpetrate it? It is a deformity; that being so, why present it to us ?
Close to the door are two prints which might, we think, have justly found their way out altogether with- out being missed. No. 236, '* Nocturne No. 12 — Miss G.," by E. J. Steichen {£'h)s represents a young lady who is showing off a new kind of lattice-work corsets, obviously of Yankee origin. No. 238, "An Arrange- ment in Tone," by the same author, repre.sents a young lady just landed from a sea trip, and she is very green with mat de mer. The same worker mounts his prints, which are all small, near the top of a sheet of brown paper, and on the lower half he draws in pencil a sort of
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Egyptian hieroglyph, which may be clever, but it and his happy (?) trick of cutting a figure right in half, as though he had not got it all on the plate, merely drives home the pith of one of our quotations anent the antics of a clown. »
We may now run through our catalogue and note some of the works of other exhibitors.
No. 17, ** Portrait." by Miss Mary Deveus. is dis- tinctly ugly.
No. 25, *• Boy with a Hoop," is by Mrs. Gertrude Kasebier. Of course any one can see it is a boy with a hoop; it certainly isn't a boy with a cow, or a horse, or a railway engine, so that this may be said to be its one good point, but beyond that it is decidedly weak and wishy-washy. A flat and poor photograph may be our ultimate verdict.
It is as well that Arthur H. Gleason has condescended to tell us that his print represents winter.
It might be winter — probably it is — but it had evi- dently been snowing ink before he exposed his plate, for we presume the muddy-looking stuff on the pavement and roads is intended to represent snow. If so, we are glad we do not get much of that sort here.
Surely Frances Watte Lee has made a mistake in call- ing her poor subject ** Convalescent," in No. 35. We should think she could more appropriately have called her '• Sick unto Death," for a more ghastly photograph of its kind would be difficult to conceive.
In No. 38 we have another weak and deadly portrait by F. Holland Day. It looks as though it might be a glycerine developed platinotype print, but the vignetting has been badly done.
And, again, what is the object of ha\nng so many paste-down mounts, one upon the other, and each one a little larger than its preceding fellow.
May we suggest for next year that the more mounts employed the greater the chance of selection.
No. 69, **Lady in Black," by Mr. Clarence White. This is an excellent title, for there is no mistake about the blackness. At a distance of three feet from the print it is impossible to distinguish anything but a light muddy patch somewhere towards the top of the print, and this represents all we can see of the face. It may be art, for it is certainly concealed.
No. 72. **The Song of the Meadow Lark," is very beautiful, and represents two young girls with delicate and refined faces wending their way together across the meadow. We like this very much, and think the ex pression on the faces has been happily caught.
HARVARD CAMERA CLUB.
THE club will have this year a new reading room where all the illus- trated photographic magazines will be on file and loan exhibits of fam- ous worker's and member's prize pictures will be constantly on exhibition. Here, too, the club will hold its informal smoke talks for mutual criticism. Three exhibits are planned for the j'^ear— an
extensive loan exhibit of some representative man's work in the Fall, the regular annual club exhibit and contest in February, and a third ex- hibit in June.
The first regular meeting of the year was held on Oct. 10 in the Brook's House. Mr. W. B. Swift, the President, read two short papers ** Activities of New England Camera Clubs," and '*Some Photographic Effects and How to Make Them."
According to the large number of new men joining this year, the club will be much larger than usual and a very prosperous and enjoyable year is anticipated.
The next meeting is to be on Nov. 14, 8 p m., in the Fogg Art Museum Lecture Room, Cam- bridge. Professor Geo. Santayana, of the De- partment of Philosophy in the University, will speak on "The Photograph and the Mental Image." This lecture is open to the public, and we are sure that not only those who have heard this charming lecturer and read his poetry and " The Sense of Beauty," but all art lovers will wish to hear his thoughts about photog- raphy.
H. W. Eliot, Cor. Sec.
A./. Schaeffer,
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The Photogfram (Engfland). — October*
Two-Golor Lantern Slides. A New Process.
In our November issue of last year appeared an article on ** Tonality in Lantern Slides,*' in which the method of toning down a slide by means of a sub-imposed nega- tive image was illustrated by examples by John Beeby, with whom, we believe, the application of the idea to slides originated. We are glad to take the opportunity of the opening of the present lantern season to announce another process by Mr. Beeby, which will enable the slide maker to produce many novel effects with very great case.
The method is carried out as follows : The slide is de- veloped in the usual way to a warm or cold tone, as the final result desired by the worker may require. Mr. Beeby uses Ortol on Cadett slow lantern plates, with whice he gets a warm brown tone, but any other de- veloper and plate may, of course, be used. The novel part of the process commences after this slide has been fixed and washed. Mr. Beeby finds that if a slide be locally toned with gold it can afterwards be treated en- tirely with the single solution intensifier known as **Agfa,'' made by the Aktien Gesellschaft fiir Anilin Fabrikation, without the portion toned with gold being touched. As ''Agfa*' intensifies a slide, and at the same time slightly increases the warmth of its tone, the use of the two reagents enables Ihe worker to obtain certain effective results, notably in the case of slides containing much sky, with dark objects in the fore- ground The blue obtained by the gold bath (gold and sulphocyanide) is, of course, bluer the warmer the original slide. If this is cold, the tone is cool gray; if warm brown, bright blues are obtained in the toning bath. The solution is applied with a clean, soft, camel- hair mop, the slide thoroughly rinsed and placed in the '* Agfa " intensifier, which is made by diluting one part of the solution supplied by the makers with nine parts of water. After the desired effect has been produced, the process is completed by washing in water.
Photo-Beacon — October.
Silver Stains on Negatives, by Albert C. Tandy.
From time to time I have noticed that a great many workers complain of silver stains on their negatives through printing from them befofe they were perfectly dry. As I have never seen a certain and safe remedy in print, nor indeed have I heard of any except one which I have worked out for myself, I think it may be of some use to your readers if I give it.
I presume the negative to be operated upon has not been varnished or treated with medium. If so, it must first be cleaned off in the usual manner with alcohol be- fore applying the solution. The solution I use is made up of hypo 2 ounces, sodium phosphate 5 grains, lead nitrate X ounce. Dissolve in 6 ounces of water, and then add }4 ounce of alum, after which it may be put on one side to clear t)efore using.
This is really a sulphur toning bath, and the action seems to be to tone the silver stain in the negative right away. It also clears up the negative and makes it clean and bright. The time required to do this varies. " The negative from which the enclosed prints were made took one and a half hours to clear the stain right away, but this was what I should call a bad cabc.
I discovered the useful action of this solution by acci- dent, while experimenting with some P. O. P. prints in a sulphur toning bath. When a print was allowed to remain in the bath long enough. I noticed that the silver image toned right out, disappearing altogether. It im- mediately occurred to me that if this were the effect it had upon the silver salt in the paper, it might have the same effect upon the silver stain on a negative. I tried it, and have since often found it useful.
It works equally well for stains from P. O. P. and albumenized paper. The solution may be kept in a bottle and used several times. After treatment the negative must be well washed and allowed to dry spon- taneously. Should any sediment settle upon the plate it must be carefully wiped off with a tuft of wet cotton wool before drying the negative.
Professional and Amateur Photogfrapher.— October*
A New^ Process of Negative Making, by Edmund Emst«
A plate that was fogged before exposure and thrown aside was placed in a printing frame, film to film, with a negative. It printed slowly and made a positive. I thought of toning and fixing it, but it was taken off too light. I wondered what the result would be if it were de- veloped. In broad daylight I placed it in the developer, and the positive gradually di.sappeared, the plate became as it originally was; then it gradually became a negative. After several experiments in the line I found that the shorter the printing, the harsher the negative. One printed all day gave a beautifully soft print, which was a great improvement on the original
How this can be applied to practicability remains to be seen . As yet I can only say it would be useful were quantities of prints of a kind wanted and several nega-
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tives be made in this way, and it also gives softer results than the original. Save your fogged negatives and try it.
The plates should be printed until the detail is clearly shown, and not developed too far. Get out under the skylight where you can see them come up. On platino paper the effect resembles carbon very clo.sely. and the effect is very soft and pleasing from the most harsh negatives. I hope it may be applied more practically.
Photogffaphy — October JJth.
Measures of Opacity, by Sir William Aboey, K.C3., F»R.S., etc^
Those who have to measure the density of negatives for the purpose of ascertaining the effective speed of plates seem to be wedded to that form of photometer which places the negative near the source of light, and the screen some distance away from it, and which com- pares the light passing through the negative with that of another source of light, the screen being moved between the two till equality of illumination is estab- lished.
Whether the amount of light passing through the negative as measured by this method be recorded as the logarithm of the opacity or merely as the simple trans- parency does not matter very much so far as this article is concerned.
What we wish to emphasize is that the opacity or transparency given by this method does not represent the facts as regards the printing value of the deposit. It makes the apparent density very much too g^eat. Whether it makes the rapid- ity of the plate appear too high or too low is beside the question; all that is con- tended for is that the measures will not give an idea of the printing density. On the other hand, we can imitate what happens in the printing frame if we adopt the method in which a screen is used that goes by the writer's name. It may be remarked that it i^ not because it is so named that the writer recom- mends its adoption, but because it gives facts which are applicable at once to the photographic print.
The Abney screen consists of a black ferrotype plate, in the middle of which a square of one half inch size is pierced. The front of the plate is covered with a sheet of Saxe paper, so that the square is seen as bright when viewed with a light behind it. The white surface is masked with black paper, so that there is an oblong one inch wide and one half inch high visible. One half of the oblong if formed by the white paper which covers the hole, and the other half is opaque. We now have transparent white paper and opaque N\hite paper side by side. By placing the light in the front of the screen, the whole oblong is illuminated, and a rod can be so fixed
that it throws a shadow over the paper covering the hole.
If a light be placed behind the screen, the paper cov- ering it will b3 illuminated, and we shall have two spaces alongside one another- one illuminated from the front, and the other from the back.
If now we place a negative with its deposit against the hole, so that the light illuminating the paper from behind has to pass through the negative, we have exactly what takes place in the printing frame, and we can equalize the light on the two halves by moving the front light, or by using sectors, or an annulus, as we have before described, between the front light and the screen. Such measures will give the true printing density of the negative.
On examining recently the measures of a scale of den- sity made by the first plan, and having measured them by the Abney screen method, we found a wonderful discrepancy between the two sets of measures. Not that we were unprepared for the discrepancy, for it had been pointed out some years ago by the writer and by Mr. Chapman Jones. The fact is that the opacity values, />., the logarithmic values of the Abney method,
OLD MCNTONC.
Robert Dtmachy.
Philadelphia Salon, i^oo.
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Benjamin Sharp.
Philadelphia SaloHy igoo.
were only seventy-five per cent, very closely of those of the first method.
To take one example of no density and one of a very high density. Suppose the former by the two methods were considered equal, and the latter by the old method had a transparency value of 2.00 and o, by the Abney plan they would only have a value of i . 50 and o. With this knowledge before us it is easy to test the accuracy of the measures. We have only to make a practical trial of them by exposing the two squares to the same light for different times corresponding to the different transparencies.
Take the dense square in question — we can expose it with platinum paper behind it to light for a time neces- sary to give it a gray tint on development and can expose simultaneously the light square with a sector with an aperture of appropriate angle cut out to correspond to the different densities measured. Thus the aper- ture ' required on the old measures would be 3.6
deg., whilst with the writer's plan it would only be 11. 2 deg.
Let the two exposures be made with these different apertures, and it will be found that if the negative has a black deposit such as is given by metol, the g^ays will match in the latter case, but that they will be widely different in the former. When the color is such as is given by a pyro development, there may be a certain small amount of difference in the first pair, but it will be exaggerated in the second pair.
We called attention to this some time ago. but it never seemed to be appreciated as a practical matter.
For the purpose of enlargements the old values will be nearly correct.
At the Camera Club not long ago it was asserted that the reduced density given by our plan was due to reflec- tions of light between the glass negative and the paper. It would be very clever of the paper and the negative if they could cause such a marked difference. Any reflec-
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tion that does take place, and which from re- reflection can find its way through the paper, is considerably under error of observation. A long series of experiments was made to prove this point, and for all practical purposes it may be neglected.
On the other hand, as both Mr. Chapman Jones and the writer have shown, the amount of light scattered by the negative when the light passes it to a distant screen is anything but negligible, and, in fact, accounts for the difference in readings of two methods.
A mistaken ideas of the densitities of plates or films is often obtained, because it is derived from measure- ments made without due regard to printing qualities. If makers would only agree to measure their densities adapted to piinting purposes, the amateur photographer, at all events, would benefit largely by it.
Photosftapher (Ensfland). —
The Amateur October \2.
Enlarging: Difficulties^ by G. Rodwell Smith*
Enlarging, while one of the most pleasing operations in photography, is in the hands of the unskilled, one of the most expensive, as so much " waste " occurs if Jeach stage of the process is not properly conducted. It is hoped these remarks will assist prospective enlargers to reduce failures to a minimum.
Whether the operation is carried out by means of an optical or enlarging lantern, or by daylight, the principle IS, of course, the same, though some precautions are peculiar to each. While, in daylight work, the varying intensity of the light presents a tiresome obstacle at times, it has this advantage, that, given a suitable reflector, which will also serve to screen the image of objects within the range of the lens, no difficulty is experienced in getting an even light through every portion of the negative. But in lantern work this is one of the principal causes of failmre. Unless the light is properly centred and focussed (before placing negative in lantern) it is not possible to get an evenly illuminated disc. This should be secured before attempting the enlargements, as otherwise unequal ex- posure must result, and our effort will be foredoomed to failure. A sheet of ground glass placed between con- denser and illuminant will assist in this, but should not be necessary. I have for some time used an '* Incanto '* acetylene generator, with a single bicycle burner, in place of the two ordinarily supplied, consuming only about one ounce of carbide per hour, and giving very satisfactory results; the exposure averaging about thirty seconds. It is well known that a thin negative is best suited to enlarging; but we cannot always obtain ideal negatives for our purpose, so we must adopt measures accordingly.
The intelligent worker does not commit himself to one aperture, one plate, one developer, for his negatives, and if he anticipates harsh contrast, he takes steps to avoid it, both by giving a full-exposure, and employing a dilute developer. So, in enlarging, if we are using a very ** vigor- ous '* negative, we must take care lest the shadows be- come fully developed before gradation is obtained in the high lights.
I take it the reader is familiar with the method em- ployed for gauging the exposure, namely, by pinning a
strip of paper across the projected image, and by cover- ing up some portions, obtain a graduated exposure.
Now, in the case of a very thin or weak negative (likely to produce a flat -looking result) over-exposure is the chief thing to be avoided. The developer should be of full strength, in order to build up density in the shadows before the high lights become degraded. A ten per cent- solution of bromide should be to hand, so that it may be added if necessary to assist in keeping the ** whites** clear, bearing in mind, however, that an excess of re- strainer tends to produce greenish blacks. In a negative of the opposite kind we should rather err in the other direction. Indeed, from negatives at all over-developed I have it found it impossible to obtain a good result with- out shielding the thinner portions for some period of the exposure, as the exposure necessary to bring out detail in the high lights would cause the shadow to ** block up ** before the developer could be washed off and local de- velopment resorted to for the 'Mights.*' Let me here impress the necessity of making quite sure of the ex- posure before pinning up the sheet of bromide. If a vignette, one is usually pretty safe, but when enlarging the whole of a quarter-plate with a six inch condenser one frequently finds some portion of the picture insuffi- ciently exposed— with the most careful adjustment of light— especially near the edges. It is then a simple matter, having determined the exposure, to pin a small piece of paper in a suspected corner; development of this will soon prove whether a little *' dodging *' will be ne- cessary. The extra exposure can easily be given by tear- ing a small hole in apiece of brown paper, allowing the light to "play" on the part required. Enlargement offers wonderful scope for •* artistic ** treatment by these methods and by local development. I might illustrate this by an experience. I had an enlargement to mike of an amateur snap-shot— a village street, long row of houses on either side, church in distance, coming in center of picture. As is usual in snap-shots, the distance was as sharp as the foreground, and in this case printed quite as dark. By using the objective at full aperture and focusing on the edges, I put the middle — the dis- tant church — slightly out of focus, and shielded the sky for printing in clouds in the next operation. As soon as the image appeared in development I washed the paper to stop its further action, and. by adopting local develop- ment to foreground and middle distance, gave the whole quite an artistic effect.
In closing I would urge the precaution of seeing that every portion of the enlargement is fully immersed in the hypo, after quickly rinsing off developer, or stains may result.
Wilson's Photosfraphic Magfazme* — October. Photog^raphinsf Machinery*
The photographing of machinery has several times been suggested to photographers whose business as portraitists does not keep them more than respectably busy. There is room in the country for a much in- creased output of technical work.
We had recently a typical instance of the narrow ex- perience of too many photographers. A man whose work — not name, for he is operator only — is known all over the States came to us for assistance. He had to photo- graph a silver challenge cup, and he wanted to know
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J«it«*r-
jpUBLtC LIBRARY- X?N 'foundations^
Philadelphia Salon, igoo.
George D. Firmim.
how to avoid reflections. We gave him half a dozen methods, and he was particularly pleased with two good veterans. One was the suggestion to dab the bright parts of the silver with a bit of putty; the other was to put a lump of ice into the cup and take it into a warm room. This would cause a slight film of moisture to form, and the exposure should be made before the moist- ure condensed in sufficient quantity to commence trick- ling down the cup.
The largest accounts are undoubtedly those done with makers of machinery, and a big step to success is in knowing just when to make the photograph. The worst time of all is when the machine is resplendent in its new coat of blue or red, with bright parts of flashing steel. The best time is just after the machine is put together and has received its priming coat. This is usually of a gray color, and photographs well. It may be sufficient at this stage of construction to dull any bright pans with putty. But if there is any considerable amount of bright steel it may with advantage be dulled by a mixture made by stirring white lead into turpentine to make a thin cream, and then adding about one-fifth its bulk of gold size. The color can be grayed down to any extent by adding lamp black.
A flat white ground is usually the best for machinery, and this can be best got by blocking out. This entails a considerable labor when small details, such as handles.
steam cocks, project from the profile of the machine. Blocking out is done in the usual way, using a *'duck '* sable hair well charged with opaque color. If electric light is available an incandescent lamp placed beneath the negative is the best illuminant for fine work of this kind; otherwise the usual reflector of the retouching desk.
It is well to avoid handling the film with greasy fingers before blocking out, for the blocking color refuses to •• take " easily to the parts affected in this way.
Sometimes the availability of a sheet or canvas, which can be rigged up on a temporary frame as a background, does away with the necessity of blocking out. Should this be creased or marked in any way reproduction of any markings in the negative can be prevented by keep- ing it gently moving during exposure.
Light troubles us at every point in photographing ma- chinery; we can't ** pose " our machine, and must make the best of it as it is. Commonly the fault is too much top light, and this makes heavy shadows, obscuring much detail. Some reflector must be used to lighten these shadows, for in a photograph of machinery detail is essential. Reflectors of white paper may be used for local relief, and often the floor around the machine may be strewn with sawdust or white sand. In some dull lights the a.ssistance of a flash-lamp will be useful.
One part of a machine is always important, and that
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is the maker's name, with particulars of protecting patents, etc. This is usually cast into the bed or some part of the frame of the machine, and is almost indis- tinguishable when rubbed over with the priming coat, or indeed at any stage of the work. The letters can be rendered sufficiently prominent by rubbing them with white chalk.
Exposure on machinery must be correct. Every care must be taken that a negative full of detail is obtained. Development scarcely needs a word, but commencement with a weak developer will generally give the best results.
One thing that the photographer will early learn is to have some rough suggestion as to the size of the ma- chine. In a large machine this could best be obtained by letting a workman tend it. He should be working on the machine (though not in front of any part of it) or at least looking at it and not at the camera In the case of a small machine a two-foot rule, with very strongly marked gradations, should be included.
The man who makes a specialty of photographing machinery will be successful just so far as he can c-om- bine a p)erfect knowledge of the technique of his profes- sion with a strong ability to tackle difficult conditions.
The Correct Stroke in Retouching.— Some re- touchers advocate light, fine strokes like commas, while others have advised dots. The best retouching is that in which the strokes are suited to the particular part upon which the work is being put. It is a mistake to think that even retouching is due to any particular form of
stroke, and another mistake to endeavor to make a great difference in tone by a lot of firm lines. If much altera- tion has to be made, then it will be found easier to go over and over again.
It would be a good plan to take a fairly transparent portion of a negative, and practice retouching it so as to reduce to perfectly even lighter tint. To do this, strokes of aquarter of an inch long or longer should be applied. They must be very light, may cross one another, but not at right angles. There is nothing for it but practice.
Johnson, in his work on the subject, says: *' Fill in the largest patches with any movement of the pencil you find most convenient (bearing in mind that if you do not work with dots you will make lines), and although, as I have said, it is impossible to lay down a system as infallible and the only one, yet it may be of service to some to know of a method which has been attended with com- plete success. In my own personal experience, I find using lines to be the only possible method by which to attain speed and excellence. Dotting is a weak and puny process, slow, and ineffective." — Photography.
Famous Paintings of New England Life.— The
December Ladies' Horn:' Journal will publish the first of W. L. Taylor's great paintings picturing the olden days in New England. It portrays ** The Traveling Shoemaker,*' passed and gone so long that he is but a memory. There are eight paintings in the series, which it is conceded stand for the very highest achievement in illustration. Mr. Taylor has spent two years on the work - a commission from the editor of the Journal.
Eduard Math s.
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CORNWALL AND A BIT OF HAPPINESS.
BY ADELAIDE SKEEL.
** A ii journeys are much alike, exhilarating in the outset, rarely up to the expectation in the object, wearisome in the return, but nevertheless delightful in the memory, especially if attended with some hard- ship or slight disaster"'
NO HARDSHIP nor slight disaster attended her trip to Cornwall, save the usual weather bureau blunders which ever block photographic progress: By diagram, dotted line and printed statement the papers promised for Eastern New York fair weather on Friday — and on Friday it rained. This threw the times out of joint and kept Her on the porch watch- ing the sky. On Saturday the sun shone, but the party of eight dwindled to two.
There are so many reasons why not, so many more reasons for staying home than for going away, so many lions in the path, so many bridges to cross, so much milk to skim, that it is really wonderful She was not obliged to go alone to Cornwall. Fortunately there was an- other who always wore the Fairy Robe,
** Who took the bits of happiness That foolish folk had thrown away,'*
and made out of them at least one wearable rainy-day skirt. Her name was Jean. She was Scotch, and had been bom, her old nurse said, with a caul over her face, so, of course, according to all superstition, she was able to see the invisible, and naturally could be fitted with fairy robes.
" ru go, rain or shine," said Jean, and she kept her word. " I believe in taking good times as they come, and never waiting for wholesale consignments."
The drive from Newburgh to Cornwall is not a long one, but because She and Jean wished the pleasures of travel, they elected to make all possible changes by taking a trolley to the rail- road station, steam cars to Cornwall, and from Cornwall to the historic sites a carriage at as little an hour as one could be hired. All con- nections were made according to the scheduled itinerary, and at ten o'clock in the bright light of morning the two friends, seated side by side in a hack which had a sorrowful creak and a black man for a driver, began their mountain climb. Here it may be well to mention, al- though the fact has no bearing on photography nor on local legends, that She and Jean were of the detached class, at leant they were semi- detached, as real estate agents describe subur-
ban villas. They were free from married cares, yet carried to a degree the weight of considerable family responsibility. To-day, nevertheless, both felt at ease, attached to each other, but to none beside.
" * Do you know what it is to want what you don't want.' " quoted She.
" No, I don't want nothing," retorted Jean, who was so highly educated she could use false syntax for fun.
** I guess that is what I want, too," She an- swered, and they both laughed. It was not very witty, but in the open air, with all one's day before one, without a single failure scored, it is easy to be light-hearted. The black driver laughed, and the horse himself broke from a slow walk into a brisk trot without being touched with the well-worn whip. None of the four felt the up-hill grade, only the old carriage creaked. It was a coach which had known better days, and both people and things who have this knowledge make a noise when the evil days come. This is a law of nature.
The objective points of this photographic trip was to get pictures of the homes of Corn- wall authors. Cornwall is a locality rich in authors. It is, besides, rich in summer board- ers, but summer boarders are not all authors, fortunately. Mrs. Amelia E. Barr lives on the mountain side, although from her stories one would imagine she lived everywhere and any- where else Mr. Coriell, the popular romancer, has a home on Roundabout Hill, and there are others among both the quick and the dead. N. P. Willis, the poet, had his home at Idle- wild, on the banks of the river, while E. P. Roe lived near to Nature's heart on a fruit farm not far from the village. It was up a willow- shaded lane leading to his house where Jean, who was more of an artist than an author, told the driver to stop. Jean delighted in wayside brooks, and often laid aside her camera for her paint brush. She said she wished she had time to sketch these willows, but her companion only allowed an eighth of a second for a snap shot.
E. P. Roe's house is shadowed by apple trees; and rich in association as is the locality. She and Jean agreed it was not a picture. They put up their tripods, they tilted their ** sliding backs," they lowered their " adjustable fronts," they broke off small branches, they mowed down tall weeds, they tried to get views from all points of the compass, and they scored as many failures as they used plates. Then they
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Cormvdtt and a Bit of Happiness
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rang the door bell and were kindly received by the care-taker, who showed them the author's study, an attic bed-chamber whose sloping roof made it another photographic Waterloo. The caretaker threw open the blinds and said without enthusiasm:
" He set a deal on this view."
Jean wished again for her palette and paints since nothing short of color photography could give back the glow of the sunshine on the hills, the hazy distance, the green nearness and the soft glint of the leaves on the apple trees.
" Near to Nature's Heart," she murmured.
"That's on his tablet in the park," the woman replied; "boarders always see it. It's near by, only a stretch over a few fields, if you are not afraid of walking."
" We are in a carriage," She said, with all mock grandeur, and, without waiting for her remark to make an effect, she added, " but we are more afraid of driving in it than walking. We thought the wheels would come off, they creaked so dreadfully."
" Guess not," said the care-taker, as the tourists stepped again into their ancient coach, " I have remarked that hack going along the road with boarders since first we came here, and my youngest girl, who is nigh grown now, was a baby not able to walk alone then."
In this seasoned vehicle the party rolled over Cornwall's smooth roads, winding up the moun- tain side till they stopped in a wood. Looking through the trees, a plateau was visible, but there was no path by which to reach it. Half way up, on a ledge of rocks, a huge boulder projected itself, upon which legend avers the author sat when he wrote his surprisingly pop- ular novels, without which at the date of their publication, no Sunday School library was com- plete.
"Certainly Mr. Roe did not suffer from a bicycle heart," Jean said, as both scrambled up the precipice breathless and made time expos- ures of the site, which is certainly unique in its woodland seclusion. Twin chestnut trees, with ferns at their base, guard it, while a slender white birch grows erect before it, so one can barely reach the inscription on the bronze —
EDIVARD PARSONS ROE. Near to Nature's Heart,
Here he read Nature's serial story as the seasons blossomed and faded ; here he studied
the opening of a chestnut burr ; here, it may be, he fell in love with his wife.
From this sylvan retreat, the driver took the photographers to the home of the liberal- minded clergyman-author, the Reverend Ly- man Abbott. One wishes his home could bear the name of the magazine he so excellently edits, for it is an Out-Look in its position, stand- ing on a hill, from which it gets the christen- ing of the KnolL The house and grounds are unpretentious and comfortable, showing both within and without the mind of the family whose home is here both summer and winter. The name of Abbott is a magician's wand with which to conjure up many rich delights. One recalls not only the talented preacher of Plymouth pulpit, but also other members of the same kin whose books filled the library shelves fifty years ago. There are the Franconian stories, with the wonderful Beechnut, guide, philoso- pher, friend, teacher of ethics, chaperone, coachman, and gardener, the Rollo and Lucy books, the graver, sermonlike romances of another brother, and again one recalls one who was a teacher, pure and simple, whose Spingler Institute in New York was a girls' school which has been called Vassar's foster mother, so advanced in its aims was the higher educa- tion there given, in a day when finishing schools too often finished a girl's love of study.
After photographing The Knoll the descent of the hillside was so easily made that the friends reached the station and dismissed the cab a full half hour before the train time. The interval was cheerily filled by eating a luncheon of buns bought at the village post- office, such delicious buns that the amateurs wished they had Uncle Sam's recipe for making them.
" Two of love letters for sweetening, one special delivery stamp for rising, flavored to taste and posted in haste," She said.
"A bit of happiness," replied Jean, and she munched contentedly till the car whistle blew.
In washing silver prints it is always desirable to tie a filter of closely woven flannel or felt round the tap from which the washing water is drawn. Minute particles of rust and grit will thus be prevented from attaching themselves to the surface of the print. — Photography.
Customer— You enlarge photographs, don't you ? Photographer— Yes. madam.
Customer— Well, I wish you'd enlarge this one, but you may leave the nose as it is !
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A Critic Who Needs Criticising
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1
A CHARCOAL CFPCCT.
Mary Devens.
Philadelphia Salon, jgoo.
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
A CRITIC WHO NEEDS CRITICISING.
BY FREDERIC FELIX.
THERE seems to be but a solitary ex- cuse for the article, " Fuzzy Photog- raphy a Fad," written by Romyn Hitchcock and published in the July issue, and that is to make an example of the generous and extremely patient spirit of the editor of the Photographic Times. The first reading of the article brings a feeling almost of anger, and, if that feeling can finally be over- come, there follows one of pity for a person who seems desirous of posing as a photographer and yet has so little of the gallantry and politeness common to photographic workers in general, as to offer for publication such criticisms about work the magazine has considered proper to offer for the benefit of its patrons, and even, in one case, to reward with a prize. The feeling of common courtesy should prevent any one from speaking to a magazine of the *' con- taminating influences " and " untruthful results"
of its photographic reproductions, one of which is the magazine's beautiful selection for an award. But leaving politeness out of con- sideration, if that be possible, there are other reasons for serious objections to such writing, and they are given since the Photographic Times has kindly offered its readers an op- portunity to enter into a discussion of the article.
Romyn Hitchcock seems to indicate from the tone of his article that any photography that is not microscopical in detail, is a fad, or, in plain words, a crime in the photographic art, and should have neither countenance nor tolerance. But why, pray, should a ** fuzzy " photograph be always a crime and not true to nature ? Photographs with complete sharpness have their value in both artistic and mechanical lines, but if one is to follow the great teacher, Nature, there are many times when detail is not de- sirable, and, if attempted, would be the means of losing the pictorial effect. The critic, it seems, must claim that some photographers
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throw haze and fuzziness on every attempt made with the camera, and to 'avoid being one of those dreadful " faddists'* he would keep to the extreme of universal sharp- ness and order all others to follow his dictates. He would not attempt to depict the effects of a fog, a misiy morning, or any of the other things that a capable artist brings to paper in a manner making the one who views the work wonder at the power of the instrument and of its manip- ulator. Taking for granted that he could produce such a picture as " The Eye of Day," which appears on the page opposite his article, with all its ** contaminating influence," would he do it, or would he pass the opportunity with the assertion that nature cannot be faithfully produced unless the bark on every tree is shown as though engraved ? Let Mr. Hitchcock call on any of the artists he has criticised and he will find they also have the sharp photographs for which he appeals, and that the ** fuzzy " work is only introduced in its proper place to preserve an effect of nature that exists in reality and not in imagination. Ever}'one knows that a lens frequently brings a record of things not noted by the eye and that universal sharpness will be given by a lens at the slightest bidding. But if, occasionally, the artist wishes to put down na- ture as the eye takes it in at the first glance, then he does a capable and commendable thing so to train his instrument that it will respond with the real, and not the artificial, effect.
If all the photographs singled out by Mr. Hichcock had been universally sharp and brilliantly lighted the effect would not have been as true to nature as the workers succeeded in gaining. A f ogg^ day could not be attempted if universal sharpness had always to be kept in mind, nor likewise a twilight scene, a storm effect, a misty morning, or many other scenes in which the eye finds things somewhat veiled. To say that the reproductions in question ** are un- like anything in nature or art " is a mistake, or, if not a mistake, a falsehood.
The critic is also wrong when he indicates that in "fuzzy" pictures the "aim seems to be to imitate oil paintings," as we all know that paintings bring out microscopical detail just as often as they are lost in indistinctness — all depending upon the subject and effect to be produced, the artist being governed the same as is a true photographic artist. The criticism also becomes strained, and loses semblance of a
THC ANCHOIIAeC.
//. A. BeoA/ey.
genuine tone that could be accepted, when it branches off and finds fault with the long v/hite dress of an infant, not because it is "fuzzy," but because "it is not pleasing "; again when it criticises spots on another picture which " are highly detrimental," and further when it goes into the subject of "that horrid big hat and ribbon bow which the miguided woman wears."
Egotism has a place in the criticism, showing itself in the words, " If I had taken * Sheep in Pasture * I would consider it a failure." Perhaps he would be entitled to consider it a failure, but since he did not make it, and since he does not in any way show his right as an artist to criticise he should allow that picture as well as the others similarly constructed to be judged and enjoyed by the patrons of the magazine who appreciate such things in their proper value.
The most exasperating paragraph in the entire article is that finding fault, entirely erroneous, with the Photographic Times prize " Study of a Child." And to think of his being ungracious enough then to offer it to the maga- zine for publication. The truth is the portrait has a most sweet and attractive effect, and its selection for place of honor reflects credit upon the magazine. Mr. Hitchcock would better suspend his criticisms until he becomes better able to act as a critic entitled to be heard.
DUSTING PLATES*
Dry plates are so carefully packed now-a-days that it is not necessary to dust them before placing in the holder. In fact it is often detri- mental to do so as the camel-hair brush usually contains more dust than the plate, and this dust will deposit itself on the plate. The plate- holders should, however, be regularly attended to, especially if they are carried in a bag, or if a small slip of cloth is used at the entrance of the slide.
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Some Photographic Experiments
[November
SOME PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERIMENTS ON THE PENETRATION BY SUN- LIGHT OF THE TISSUES OF THE BODY*
BY J. W. KIME, M.D.
F^ ROM Fort Dodge, Iowa, comes news of j some most interesting experiments on I the power of light to penetrate the tissues of the body with sufficient actinic action left to impress an image on a dry plate suitably arranged. From
a picture upon an ordinary photographic dry plate.
The method of procedure was as follows: The person on whom the experiments were to be made was taken into the photographer's dark room, and the plates were applied with great care that all rays of light save those that traversed the thorax might be excluded. The first illustration shows the method of photo- graphing through the body.
The direct rays of the sun falling upon the reflector through the sky-light, are focused on the chest of the person upon whose back has been placeil the sensitized plate on which the picture is to be taken.
A transparency on glass of a valley in the Klondike was used as the original from which the picture was to be made. This was fastened to the sen- sitized plate, and the two were placed on the back between the scapulae of a man weigh- ing 150 pounds, the transpar- ency being placed next to the body with the new plate im- mediately behind it. Over these were placed black paper, black cotton wadding, several large black cloths and over this his coat was drawn, and all were securely fastened by means of
Dr. J. W. Kime who conducted these experiments we have re- ceived the following details :
Ordinary sunshine falling upon the surface of the body pene- trates the tissues to a considera- ble depth. The condensed actinic rays of the sun pass entirely through the human body.
For the purpose of determin- ing this question a series of ex- periments have been made by the writer, assisted by Photog- rapher G. L Hostetler, of this city, in which we were able to demonstrate that the actinic rays of the sun, when sufficiently con- centrated, may be made to pass through the thorax of an adult, from front to back, with suf- ficient intensity to reproduce
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With Jane Colden at Colden Hill
509
long black bandages. He was then taken to the light room, and the reflector was turned upon the chest for fifteen minutes.
After exposure he was again taken to the dark room, and the plates were removed and the illustration shown was developed on the photo- graphic plate.
Illustration No. 2 represents the scene in the Klondike valley photographed as shown in illustration No. i.
In producing this picture all sources of error were carefully excluded, and the operation was repeated many times on various persons and always with like results.
To further test the reliability of the procedure and to insure that the picture was not produced by contact of the transparency with the plate, aided by the body-heat or by some undetermined influence other than the light transmitted through the body, plates were arranged in the same manner, and for like periods of time, without attempting to pass the light through the body, and no picture developed on the plate
Illustration No. 3 represents a picture of the Mason City and Fort Dodge depot, and, in the back ground, the Fort Dodge High School building taken through the hand of the writer, which is more than one inch in thickness.
The s^nie care was here exercised to prevent the entrance of light as above described. Time of exposure, five minutes.
Illustration No. 4 was produced as a trans- parency from the same negative used for illus- tration No. 3, and was taken inside the cheek of the writer, with the mouth firmly closed and covered with the hand. Time of exposure, five seconds.
These photographs establish the fact that actinic rays of the sun, when sufficiently con-
centrated, may be made . to pass entirely through the body of a full grown man.
The rays of light pass through the integu- ment with consid- erable difficulty, more readily through muscular tissue and much more readily through bone. In producing a pic- ture through the cheek the light
passes through but a single thickness of the skin, and the picture is reproduced almost instantly.
The reQector used in making these experi- ments is a compound circular mirror, thirty inches in diameter, and is overlaid with blue glass.
It is so constructed that all the light which falls upon it is focused upon a spot six inches in diameter at a distance of eight feet in front of it. Thus a very powerful blue light is brought to bear upon the parts.
The heat rays of the solar spectrum are largely contained in the red band while the actinic, or chemic, rays are much more abundant in the violet and ultra-violet bands; thus by utilizing the blue light we get a much greater percentage of actinic light in proportion to the heat rays than if ordinary white light be used.
WITH JANE COLDEN AT GOLDEN HILL,
BY ADELAIDK SKEEL.
IT was a misty October morning. A lumin- ous fog hung over the yellow fields. Cob- webs strung with diamonds, or, perhaps, Rhine crystals, covered the tangled grass. The wet, red leaves of the maples seemed to have been newly varnished. The sumacli was so startlingly highly colored one looked for the notice " Fresh Paint" Only the gray pods of the clematis were dry. The rural trolley curveted up to the station, the motorman said apologetically, " Colden Hill, ma'am," and the one passenger alighted. I was the one passen- ger, and I was alone at Colden Hill. An enthu- siasm born of much desultory reading of Colden- ham*s Colonial and Revolutionary days had brought me hither with my camera, and here I was, but evidently Coldenham had not come to meet me. The place is defined in a local history of
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With Jane Cotden at Colden Hilt
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Orange County as containing a hotel, a small number of shops, stores, and private dwellings. Its name is derived from the Colden family. It was formerly the home of Lieutenant-Gover- nor Cadwallader Colden, who acted as chief magistrate in the colony of New York. The buildings erected by the Coldensare thus enum- erated : " The old stone academy house, Col- denham stone house on the turnpike, long, low house east of stone house at the foot of the hill, house known as the Thomas Colden Mansion north of the turnpike, two dwellings east of the last one named and the dwelling on the hill south of the turnpike, a homestead subsequently deeded by Governor Colden to his son Cad- wallader, Jr/'
How well all this reads on the printed page of a book, but where were these houses in the wide landscape over which the fog was hang- ing ? Up in the gray sky a pale moon-like sun was struggling to shine, and presently the moist veil lifted between me and the low- lying fields, and I saw f/te dwelling on the hilly south of the turnpike, the old Colden homestead. The house is painted in yellow, according to the modern idea of colonial colors, and from a distance its ancient sloping roof, its dormers, long piazza and bent gable end, give it a dignity which it loses at closer range.
On the slope of the hill, and encircling it, is an old orchard, whose pink blossoms in May must greatly add to the beauty of the house and form a lovely setting to the picture. Now, in October, the twisted branches were almost bare, while beneath the trees lay heaps of decaying fruit, more conducive to temperance than to cider drinkmg. A long lane, without the proverbial turning, leads away from the turnpike to the homestead, a lane fringed with willows and bordered with golden rod and asters. An amateur photographer, unless a specialist, rarely pauses in the mad pursuit to take the portraits of way-side w^eeds, although, to use the well-worn phrase, these sitters never fail to sit still and look pleasant, yet there was something arresting in the flowers this foggy morning. I stopped more than once to look at them, calling by name those with which I had a bowing acquaintance, and stopping to gather others which had been life-long friends. In the marshes over which the trolley had brought me the pink loosestrife, or fire weed, Ophelia's flower, till lately had been blazing. Here in the lane I looked in vain for the sky-fringed gentian.
and again for that unloved plant, the crimson knap- weed
** By copse and hedge-row, waste and wall. He thrusts his cushions red : O'er burdock rank; o'er thistles tall, He rears his hardy head. — Let others toil for other's good And miss or mar their own, Thou hast brave health and fortitude To live and die alone."
I was forgetting all about the Colden family when I heard a ghostly foot-fall, and heard a sweet voice say,
** Are you fond of flowers ? *'
I turned and saw Jane Colden, the daughter of Lieutenant-Governor Cadwallader Colden, towards whose house I was walking. I was glad to see Jane, for I felt a bit lonely, and besides I knew the mists would roll away from the landscape and from the centuries when I talked with her face to face. Hitherto I had met her only in biographical dictionaries, and this is even less satisfactory and one-sided than to open an acquaintance by answering a Per- sonal in the Herald ! It is not easy to describe Jane Colden. She looked somewhat tall and stately, every inch " my lady," although she was dressed in a home-spun gown with a scant, short skirt, and of course with a kerchief crossed on her bosom, and the cap which young spin- sters and matrons alike wore a himdred odd years ago. Her hair was bright as red gold, her eyes blue, and her clear white skin slightly accentuated with tiny brown freckles. She seemed at once a lady of high degree and a simple country maid delighting in out-door life.
"Yes, I like flowers very much I answered," and I was looking for a plant called Coldensia^ which is said to grow about here. Do you know it?"
Jane blushed rosy red.
" Why, father named it for me ! " she said. Will you come up to the house, and I will show you my collection."
We walked silently up the lane. Although half a hundred questions came to my mind, I dare ask none. As a Daughter of the Ameri- can Revolution, I could not sympathize with the Tory sentiment of my hostess ; nor as a guest could I allude to various political situa- tions in which the Lieutenant-Governor had figured. As we passed the bams at the farm's gateway, I peeped through the open doors to catch a glimpse of the family coach with yellow wheels, in which the Coldens rode to church ;
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then I remembered it was burned in New York after its owner's attempted enforcement of the Stamp Act, and that the Lieutenant-Governor's effigy was carried through the streets and hung about the same time. It would not do to speak of this episode, surely, nor even remotely to hint of his son's arrest by the Vigilant Com- mittee of Safety at Newburgh. Was his sister proud of Cadwallader, Junior, when he lay a year in Kingston jail because of his refusal to sign the pledge of association and also pledge his honor **to immediately equip himself for the field of battle, and in case of actual inva- sion go forth with the rest of his neighbors to action in defence of his country."
I dared not ask her !
Then I thought of brighter days, and won- dered if the Maria Colden, whose name is scratched on the window pane of General Knox's headquarters at New Windsor, was this stately girl's cousin. Rumor says : " Maria led a minuet with Washington, and I am sure Jane would have graced the occasion with equal dignity had her principles permitted, and after all, of what use are political divisions at a ball ? Surely they should be left at home when one puts on the high heeled slippers and dons the trained satin gown.
We passed the old stone mounting-block under a tree, before which the coaches of the neighboring gentry used to stop, and I looked through the fog to see ladies alighting. There came none, however, so I followed Jane on till we reached the house, then ascending the steps of the piazza, passed under the arched colonial doorway. The hall is wide, running straight through the house, a broad stairway leads to the upper chambers, while below are the large draw- ing rooms, breakfast parlor, and offices. Jane took me in her father's library, where rows upon rows of shelved books spoke the scientist and scholar.
"My father has taught me botany," she said, " and explained Linnaeus's system, which is so new — "
" New ! " I interrupted, " why nobody uses it nowadays."
Jane looked surprised, then said gently, reprovingly, '* My father is in correspondence with many leading botanists in Europe, and he uses it, and, as I said, has taught me, of course explaining the terms and translating the Latin into English, so I can understand. He says botany is an amusement which may be made agreeable to the ladies, who are often at a loss
COMING HOME FROIM THE HARVEST FIELD. Th. Ho/meister.
to fill up their time. He thinks our natural curiosity and the pleasure we take in the beauty and variety of our dress fits us for it."
The girl repeated these words of her father's somewhat formally, as if she rehearsed them often in her mind, to excuse what might seem unwomanly in her unusual studies, and here, with more naturalness, she added, opening a drawer and bringing from a cherished hiding place a big book.
" Here are some of my specimens found about here. See ! 1 found out this way for myself of taking impressions of the leaves. Father tells his friends about it, as if it were wonderful, but it is quite easy, see ! "
I looked, and saw the leaves had been dipped
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With Jane Golden at Cotden Hilt
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in printer's ink, then rolled on the paper to leave an outline. It was primitive, but good. Underneath each specimen was the name of the genus, and the collection numbered over three hundred plants.
I was suggesting she should lay them on ** blue " paper in a printing frame, and she was looking immensely puzzled and a trifle dis- pleased, when a colored servant, a slave pos- sibly, entered with some seed cake and two glasses of wine on a tray.
*' I made this cake from a recipe of my grand- mother's, and the wine is home-made too ; pray taste both, lest you go away believing me to be a poor housekeeper. In truth, gossips had said my hnsband would find me a poor helpmeet if I wasted so much time over my flowers, yet my father approves my studies, and I have much leisure in the country.
" The cake is delicious," I answered, ** and may I drink your health in this excellent wine ? " I was attempting a burlesque courtesy, which my dignified companion took in all seriousness.
"I thank you," she said, simply, touching her glass to her lips, then putting it down, she added, cordially, " May I hope for the longer pleasure of your company ? I should be hon-
oured to have you remain with us and meet my father."
'* Oh, I must go," I cried, in frightened haste. I dared not meet Lieutenant-Governor Cad- wallader Colden. Suppose I should by some mischance speak of our Teddy of the Rough Riders, what rudeness it would be to the colonial dignitary of 1761.
"Prithee, do not tarry, lest you miss the returning coach," Jane answered, kindly, "and will you pardon me if I permit you to walk down our lane unattended. There is really no danger. I ramble there alone every day, and often I hear the stage horn blowing, although I cannot see the turnpike. Sometimes the dust from the outriders' horses flies over our fields, and it seems quite merry." She sighed a gentle sigh, which half confessed a loneliness her pride tried to conceal.
"Good morrow," she said, at parting ; but when I had returned her greeting. I walked away without looking back at Colden Hill or its mistress.
The fog lifted as I jumped on the trolley, the mists rolled off the fields, and the mystery of the morning gave place to the prose of noon.
" Tickets, please," said the motorman.
TINNICUM IN WIMTCR.
Philadelphia Salon, igoo.
Amelia Van Buren,
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Testing the Speed of a Shutter
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Ph. 7> Sc heeler.
TESTING THE SPEED OF A SHUTTER.
BY WILLIAM ALBERT INGRAM.
I HE method for testing the speed of a shut- ter recommended by Weber is not so well known as it deserves to be.
Briefly considered it consists of expos- ing in the camera a portion of a plate for a certain length of time, which period must be long enough to admit of its being measured with approxi- mate correctness. The other portion of the plate is afterwards exposed with the shutter, which must be opened that number of times which will make the aggregate exposure equal in duration to the previous time exposure. For example, if the shutter works at the hundredth part of a second, one hundred shutter exposures would equal a continuous exposure of a second. The plate is then developed, and if the density of the two parts is the same, it may be assumed that the speed of the shutter is correct. If on development of the plate the two parts are not of the same density, the denser part must have had the longer exposure. From this difference in density the variation from the correct ex- posure can only be approximately estimated (even if the exposure and developer are both normal for the particular speed of plate used) but by a combination of exposures on the same plate, as explained below, this difference in time can be ascertained with sufficient accuracy for all practical purposes.
For the sake of taking a concrete case a 4 x 5 camera will be considered. On one side of the dark-slide shutter make
VL
four equidistant lines, thus dividing the shutter into five strips. If allowance be made for the
portion of the slide covered by the rebate, each strip will be four inches long and one inch wide. The lines referred to may be made with pencil, and if on the inside of the dark-slide shutter there will be no appreciable disfigurement.
Suppose it be required to test the speed of a shutter which should operate at the twenty- fifth part of a second. With the dark slide in position point the camera towards some evenly tinted and lighted surface, such as a white sheet or a blanket, and pull out the dark-slide shutter one division. Fig. A. Give the strip of the plate thus uncovered a correctly measured exposure of one second, taking care that the speed of plate and light selected are such that this exposure is normal. Without moving the camera take the slide to the dark-room, and after marking the exposed strip, invert the plate in the slide. Again place the slide in the camera, and draw out the dark-slide shutter so that an mch strip is exposed. This time it will, of course, be at the other end of the plate. Open the shutter ten times. Pull the dark-slide shutter out to the next division and again open the shutter ten times. Repeat this operation with the remaining unexposed strips, taking care not to give an additional exposure to the strip which had the time exposure of one second. The ex- posure given to the several strips, as shown in Fig. B, will be as follows :
One second.
Ten shutter exposures.
No. I. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.
THE NEV/ YO^K
PUBLIC ur.r.AKY.
APTOR, LENOX AMD TILBIN FOUNDATIONS.
Twenty shutter exposures
Thirty shutfer exposure
Forty shutter exposures. This plate should then be developed with standard solutions, if the exposure has been normal. If the shutter be correct the density of No. T strip, the time exposure, will be the same as that of No. 3, which had twenty exposures of one twentieth part of a second each. If the shutter be not correct, it must be noted which strip the most nearly approximates in density the one to which the time exposure was given. It is advisable to take a print of this negative, this being done in such a manner that contrasts are increased on the print. It will be found that a difference in contrast is often obtainable on a carefully made print which was not perceivable on the negative itself. This print, after being marked, may be cut into strips, to facilitate comparison. Perhaps it should be noted that the denser portions of the negative will be the lighter on the print.
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The Photographic Salon
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When greater accuracy is required, it is merely necessary to increase the number of the
|
1 |
% |
3 |
<^ |
5 |
divisions on the plate. Probably the method used for taking photographic ** doubles" may be employed, when a greater number of ex- posures may be obtained on one plate, or a second plate may be used after the first has approximately determined the speed of the shutter.
THE PHOTCXJRAPHIC SALON, PENNSYL- VANIA ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS-
BY W. P. L.
THE opening of the third Annual Ex- hibition disclosed some 204 subjects, of which nearly one half were con- tributed by men of other shores. It is at once a revelation and a dis- appointment.
The only evidence of advancement is in the range of color schemes which varies from the browns, to the blues, blacks, greens, oranges, and carmine. The subjects and the individual use of the model is, I regret to say, inferior to the efforts made in the exhibitions of '98 and '99.
By this you will accept the fact without further palaver that the present show cannot be compared favorably with the two preceding. The pervading evidence seems to prove the especial dictum of the committee that works showing the individual feeling and form of ex- ecution of the artist should be accepted in pref- erence to those bearing good photographic effect. This unfortunately has made it very restrictive in its lines, and narrows down the scope, which in the line of work, made the last exhibition one of joy and freedom.
The fens and dales of England are conspicu- ously absent, the moors of purple heather seem forgotten, and the human figure alone forms the principal theme of the present exhibition.
The bromo enlargements of T Hofmeister,of Hamburg, may prove enigmatical to many, radiating as they do in the vapid colors of the chemical bath. Close inspection of No. 94. "Against the Stream," in a low sepia tone, might be a little more pronounced, the detail being weakened by the process of enlargement. This is 28 X 24. ** A Summer Evening," finished in a green wash, contains some sterling qualities, which may be likened to an evening effect. In all the nine subjects make a fine display.
Photography to-day, mastered by the few, stands pre-eminently as an art, controlled by no school; harrassed by no vague tenets; but ab- solutely as a free agent of the photographer, as a poem by a poet. The obliteration of the coarse and vulgar has been wrought by the efforts of the amateur, and the professional clap-trfap doomed to annihilation
Nature — human, animal, and open — is no longer treated to a " rule of thumb"process, but with careful forethought and study, in which the artistic ability and soul-refining influences of the man make secondary the use of the ma- chine. Through the focussing glass, the pho- tographic artist views a means to the end. Conditions and localities serve but as inspira- tions to give in rhythmic, cadences an idyllic compensation to the camera artist.
To infuse a new and foreign element of color by means of the pigments is to eradicate the original in all the simpler lines of perfected truth.
The camera is but the transmitting agent, the dark room is where the confessions are made, and where the secrets of success or failure be- come apparent.
Beneath the vague glimmer of the ruby light the delicate tracery of nature and form expresses itself. It is a birth, and needs all the care of science and thought to keep it alive. Again it is a joy; and the eye follows jealously every appearing detail drawn by the pencil of light, lest by careless handling or improper attention the same should fade away and die. C. Puyo, of France, displays a print in dazzling carmine, while from the same side of the Rhine, we view a collection of decorative subjects by Robert Demachy. The human figure, both nude and draped, serves this Parisian as a motif wherein he strikes the keynote of his many masterpieces.
J Craig Annan, that worthy student of Glas- gow, emulates the examples furnished by the engravers of the middle century, and happily succeeds where so many end in failure.
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The Photographic Salon
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IN THC FOLD.
Henry Troth.
Philadelphia Salon, igoo.
Coming nearer home, we give a welcome recognition to the characteristic studies made by the veteran Alfred Stieglitz, together with other lights of the New York Camera Club.
In the pure light of exquisite and excellent results few can excel the artistic and original treatment given to the prints contributed by Frank Eugene. Graceful compositions, clever in arrangements, and excellent in the manipu- lation, proves the amount of hard thought and care bestowed.
His picture of " Mrs. D. and Family," " Dido," and "Adam and Eve," are interpretations of the artist and photographer combined.
From Buffalo, the joint composition of Rose Clark and Elizabeth Flint Wade, as seen in ** Doris and Her Mother," make a contribution that can only be compared to the soft lines of the early English school of painting.
Philadelphia is represented by some twenty exhibitors, of which Miss Eva Lawrence Wat- son, who is also one of the jury of selection, contributes the maximum number, mostly portrait studies. The more ethereal may be
accepted in the composition bearing the legend "Delight." The splendid poise and balance of the female figure, standing beneath and yet away from the shadow of the trees is very pleasing, and acceptable in the composition and technique.
The sterling effect and excellence expressed in the three portrait studies contributed by Allen Drew Cook, are perhaps best seen in his "Study of a Girl's Head," and the " Hungarian Girl." These display a wholesome command of the qualities of artistic feeling and technical skill.
Nor is one less gratified by the sincere efforts made by Mr. Sterling in his rational composi- tion entitled " Bad News," depicting the sorrow- stricken woman resting her head upon an open desk, with the left hand hanging limply down grasping the telltale missive.
The accessories of light and shade are well portrayed, and the gleam of the fast departing day touches her gently upon the back, as a silent messenger of hope.
Francis Watts Lee, of Boston, contributes four
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A MOLBCIN WOMAN
Frances and Mary AlUn.
Philadelphia Salon, jgoo.
excellent prints, ** Stephanie" being awarded the sanction of praise. " The Lowell Land/' by William B. Post, extravagant in the vast stretch of water, with a few reeds and water lilies, must not be condemned as it is a poem of peace.
Chicago, Detroit, and Ohio, are well repre- sented b}' William L. Page, William B. Dyer, Amelia Van Buren, Katherine Sheward Stan- bery, and Mary R. Stanbery.
Thus it will be seen that the circle of selec- tion has not been limited. All that is tech- nical, according to the tenets of science, here plays a part. Color tone and qualities may be subjugated and controlled, and he who is the closer student of chemistry and the rudimentary lines of art, is the one who will give the purest and best interpretation of art in photography. Its past was born in obscurity, but its future will demand the highest recognition. Accepted now as an ally of art, it is by the law of science made one.
LANTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGIN- NERS*
BY PRIMROSE HILL
XIIL— INTENSIFYING.
(58) When dealing with lantern slides it is always difficult to separate intensifying and toning, because intensification so often alters the tone (i.e., color), and toning (coloring) nearly always alters the density. It will therefore in practice be well to remember that these two operations are often going on at the same time, because we may have a slide of good color, and perhaps be disappointed to find that by adding density we have lost the desirable color. And, again, it is useful to know that we can, in one operation, add density and also change the color.
We shall, however, try in this chapter to give our chief attention to intensification; putting the color question in a second place for the moment. And here, again, we note a point of difference
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between negatives and positives. In a negative a slight fog veil makes very little practical dif- ference in the print, so usually we let it remain. When that slightly foggy negative is inten- sified we notice a corresponding increase of fog veil, and that it prolongs printing, but fre- quently the effect on the print is of no great consequence. In the case of lantern slides we may allow to pass a picture with a very slight fog veil all over, but if we intensify this fog, its effect not only is visible and highly undesirable, but it also has the further effect of reducing the lantern light by cutting off so much of its power. The practical moral is that before intensifying a slide we must see that the fog present is re- moved, or if allowed to pass, it must be so slight that when intensified it will not be visible on the screen. Reducing and clearing baths have already been given in a previous chapter.
(59) Mercury Methods, — This is capable of yielding a range of different densities, and also of different colors, according to the treatment which the plate receives in the second part of the process.
In 10 ounces of water dissolve about a tea- spoonful of common table salt (sodium chloride), or ammonium chloride, or 20 to 30 drops of hydrochloric acid. Then add mercuric chloride (perchloride, corrosive sublimate — N.B. — Poison) until you get a fully saturated solution. Then decant or filter the clear part for use only. [The addition of the salt, ammonia, or acid to the water is to assist solution of the mercury and also to make the mixture more stable. But if need be, plain water may be used for dissolving the mercury.]
In this mercury bath the plate is placed, and remains until it is more or less bleached. For slight intensification only a general slight gray- ing is required. The plate is then very thor- oughly washed in running water or in several changes, with frequent rocking of the dish. Thorough washing is essential if stains are to be avoided.
We now have about a dozen courses open to us for again darkening the plate. These give various strengths and colors, but to discuss them all would tend to confuse the beginner.
(/i) Ferrous Oxalate Normal Developer, — This gives a rich, black color and full strength. Very useful for diagrams, maps, plans, architec- tural details, or any subject where a strong black-and-white picture is wanted on the screen. The plate should be well washed both before and after darkening in the iron developer with
water just slightly acidified, /.^., 50 to 60 drops acetic acid in a pint (20 ounces) of water. One great point about this process is that we can still further intensify by again bleaching and again darkening.
(-5) Ammonia, — To 2 ounces of water add 20 to 30 drops of strong ammonia. Apply this to the bleached plate. We get a good, strong effect, but the color is variable from a rich black to a reddish brown. A warm black is the usual result with most brands of plates.
(6) Washi7ig Soda (Soda Carbonate), — This does not give such a strong result as the ammonia, and the color is more often brown than black. It is sometimes a warm chocolate brown. The strength to use is obtained by dis- solving I dram of washing soda in i oz. or i^ ounce of water.
[D) Soda Sulphite. — This compares closely with the last; the results are similar, and the strength of solution is the same. The difference generally is that the sulphite gives a rather weaker deposit and cooler color.
{E) Hypo. — We may place a bleached and well-washed slide in a clean hypo bath. In this case the gain of density is very little, and gen- erally the resulting color is between a yellow and a red gray. It may at times be suitable for pictures of sandhills and similar subjects.
Speaking generally, a dilute, slow-acting darkener gives a warmer, redder color than a strong, quicker-acting one, but this is not always the case.
In place of ferrous oxalate as mentioned in par. A, we may use several of the other de- velopers, such as normal hydroquinone, ortol, metol, rodinal, etc.
(60) Uranium Method. — This is not only a strengthening, but is practically always a color- ing method at the same time. The addition of density greatly depends on the length of time the intensifier is allowed to act. The color, commencing with a black slide, changes gradu- ally from black to brown, chocolate, sienna, to Venetian red. As the mixture does not keep well for very long, it is therefore best to mix a small quantity for immediate use, and then throw it away.
Uranium nitrate or acetate 10 grains
Water 2 ounces
Acetic acid 10 drops
Potassium ferricyanide 5 grains
Prepare in the order given.
A convenient alternative method is to pre-
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pare the two following stock solutions, which
keep a long time:
A
Uranium nitrate (or acetate) 40 grains
Water i ounce
Acetic acid 20 drops
B
Potassium ferricyanide 25 grains
Water 1 ounce
To prepare a bath, to 6 drachms of water add I drachm of A., and then i drachm of B.
After intensifying with uranium the plate is washed in water containing one or two drops of acetic acid to the ounce of water. Prolonged washing gradually removes the intensification. If the washing water be even slightly alkaline, this takes place more quickly. Thus an over- done plate may be partly or wholly in this way brought back to its original condition. Or, if needed, local alterations may be made by brush- ing certain parts with water containing one or two (not more) drops of ammonia per ounce of water, with plentiful rinsings under the tap alternately.
Before starting to intensify a lantern slide it is always worth while to spend a few moments in carefully considering whether we cannot get a better result by making a fresh slide de novo. If it is simply a question of getting more density, and that only, this, as a rule, can best be arrived at by suita- bly modifying the de- veloper and perhaps the exposure also. It
is seldom indeed that ,
one meets with a brand ! of plates which will not under proper con- ditions give as much and more density than is ever likely to be wanted for lantern pro- ^
jection.
(To be continued.)
must be coated with suitable light sensitive substance consisting of
Fish glue s^grms.
Beaten white of egg 30 grms.
Water 30 ccm.
Bichromate of ammonia i^ grms.
Ammonia (strong) 3 drops.
The mixture must be well blended by means of beating, left to stand for a few honrs, and the clear portion de- canted. The solution obtained will keep for about four- teen days. The well-cleaned plate, while still damp, must be flowed over with this solution, the surplus being allowed to run off, and after drying, again flowed over, when the surplus must be allowed to run off on the op- posite side of the plate. When dry the plate is exposed under a fairly dense line negative. The time of exposure (always in the shade) will be about five minutes in bright weather, and from ten to fifteen minutes in dull weather, while in dark weather from thirty to forty minutes will be necessary. The exposed plate must next be well washed in cold water, which dissolves the unaffected parts of the film leaving clear glass, while the parts still adhering to the glass lose their yellow tints. The next proceeding is to develop the scarcely visible picture, by placing it in a strong alcoholic solution, colored with any aniline dye, which colors strongly the still adherent parts. Finally, it is washed with water and dried, artificial heat being employed. If the negative used be not sufficiently dense fog will result.— C'^r^«/-^.
Stubb— Young Stillman said that his girl always kept him waiting.
Penn— So I heard.
Stubb— Well; he has had her picture reproduced on his watch so that she will always be on time.
Transparencies by Means of Aniline Dyes.—
To get transparencies in various and brilliant colors, the so- called water print- ing process may be used. The practical details are as follows: The matt side of a piece of ground glass
THE PINC BV THE BARN.
W. C. Baker.
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CHILD WITH OAK-FRINQE. ^va Lnwrenct H'atson.
Philadelphia Salotiy igoo.
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** We possess," said an art critic some years ago, in speaking of the material of American landscape, "all the natural conditions that are necessary to the full fruition of an artistic tem- perament concerning itself with landscape art. Our sun makes the same kind of shadows as that of Brittany; the same blue is in our skies and the same cloud-forms; the leafage of our trees is the same, and the water of our ponds and brooks differs in no way from that of France. What we should seek to learn in France is, not how to paint such and such landscapes there, but how to see those landscapes as they appear to and impress the men whose painting of them we admire, and ever after be able to see all other landscapes in the same spirit and fullness of apprehension. One need not go to Brittany to do this. It can be done at home, and there are men whose work is daily affording ample proof of the fact. But it does not follow there- from that in the acquisition of the faculty of seeing and feeling the true spirit of paysage one is not greatly aided by attrition with the mas- ters of the art and by the study that is had abroad of the precise material of their land- scapes. A man who paints for four or five years in Brittany, however, and then in his New York studio can turn out nothing but Brittany landscapes from his sketch-books, has wasted his time and mistaken his voca- tion."
How many photographers are there who think that they must needs go to London. Paris, or Rome for a street scene or to Switzerland for landscape scenery when within a stone's throw of their own dwelling mayhap lies the material for a dozen pictures ?
In looking into a matter recently, involving a point of law, we came across the following Act of Congress, which, in view of present con- ditions in the photographic trade, is of sufficient interest to warrant its reproduction here:
CHAPTER 647, VOLUME 26, UNITED STATES STATUTES AT LARGE, 51st CONGRESS.
An Act to Protfxt Trade and Commerce against Unlawful Restraints and Monoih)lies.
Section i. Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any such contract or engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the Court.
Sec. 2. Every person who shall monopolize, or at- tempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
Sec, 3. Every contract, combination in form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or com- merce in any Territory of the United States, or of the District of Columbia, or in restraint of trade or com- merce between any such Territory and another, or between any such Territory or Territories, and any State or States or the District of Columbia, or with foreign nations, or between the District of Columbia and any State or States, or foreign nations, is hereby declared illegal. Every person who shall make any such contract or engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty of a misde- meanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be pun- ished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the Court.
Sec. 4. The several circuit courts of the United States are hereby invested with jurisdiction to prevent and restrain violations of this Act; and it shall be the duty of the several District Attorneys of the United States, in their respective districts, under the direction of the Attorney-General, to institute proceedings in equity to prevent and restrain such violations. Such proceedings may be by way of petition setting forth the case and praying that such violation shall be en joined or otherwise prohibited. When the parties com- plained of shall have been duly notified of such petition
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Editorial Notes
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the court shall proceed, as soon as may be, to the hear- ing and determination of the case; pending such petition and before final decree, the court may at any time make such temporary restraining order or prohibition as shall be deemed just in the premises.
Sec. 5. Whenever it shall appear to the court before which any proceedings under section four of this act may be pending, that the ends of justice require that other parties should be brought before the court, the court may cause them to be summoned, whether they reside in the district in which the court is held or not; and subpoenas to that end may be served in any dis- trict by the marshal thereof.
Sec. 6. Any property owned under any contract or by any combination, or pursuant to any conspiracy (and being the subject thereof) mentioned in section one of this act, and being in the course of transportation from one State to another, or to a foreign country, shall be forfeited to the United States, and may be seized and condemned by like proceedings as those provided by law for the forfeiture, seizure, and condemnation of property imported into the United States contrary to law.
Sec. 7. Any person who shall be injured m his busi- ness or property by any other person or corporation by reason of anything forbidden or declared to be unlawful by this act, may sue therefor in any Circuit Court of the United States in the district in which the defendant re- sides or is found, without respect to the amount in con- troversy, and shall recover three fold the damages by him sustained, and the costs of suit, including a reason- able attorney's fee.
Sec. 8. That the word •* person," or '* persons." wherever used in this act shall be deemed to include corporations and associations existing under or author- ized by the laws of either the United States, the laws of any of the Territories, ihe laws of any State, or the laws of any foreign country.
The subject of expression in portraiture and the best methods of securing it has recently been dealt with in our pages, and those of our professional readers to whom the subject is of paramount importance may be interested in some physiological aspects of the matter that we do not remember to have seen dealt with before, writes the editor of The British Journal of Photography, The ideas are those of Mr. Henry Jones, of the Sydney (N.S.W.) Phreno- logical Institute, who, in the Australasian Pho- tographic Journal^ discusses some peculiarities of sitters from the point of view of physique. Mr. Jones says that when the flesh predomin- ates, and a subject is what people generally call "fat" or "stout," there is a desire to sit in the most comfortable chair and take life easy. Anything or anybody compelling them to " take a chair " with a straight back, such as is often used in the "studio ' for **bust" portraits, will not please them. You will ruffle their feelings.
make them feel uncomfortable and discon- tented. They are homely, jovial people, and their surroundings must be congenial if a reflex of the true feelings is to be seen in their fea- tures, and a true, natural pose obtained. People in whom the bone predominates are quite dis- similar to the fleshy people. These bony people are rough and ready, are fond of work, and they can put up with indifferent surroundings; but they prefer solid, firm, and straight furniture. The proverbial studio chair would be more appreciated by this person than the fleshy one, better still if they are allowed to stand. A prominent-browed person should be made to observe, because he is more natural-looking than if he was taken full-face with a vacant stare, as is the case in too many instances. Children with round shaped ears should be attracted to look in the direction of where some musical sound comes from. Those with a full- ness just behind the corners of the eyebrows wear a happier expression when any eatable is held up to them in a tempting manner. In the first case, the round ear shows love of music and sounds; in the second, appetite." Most of this studio philosophy falls within the category of the obvious, but the part of it relating to the treatment of children is based upon reason- ing that might be less obscure. It imposes no strain upon the acumen of a photographer to differentiate between the accomodational needs of stout and thin people; but, if an attentive study of minute facial characteristics of small sitters is to be gone through each time one of them appears, studio work will become some- what irksome. Mr. Jones probably knows more about the inexact * science " of phrenology than practical portrait photography.
Speaking at the New England Convention of Photographers recently, Mr. Darius Cobb, the well-known Boston artist, said " I would favor the abolishment of the Salon. The Salon of of Parisian Art has declined so in character and significance that when I see a picture with the word Salon on its frame I am reminded of the Grecian Orator, who, on being applauded, turned and said " What foolish thing have I said now ?" No judge is infallible, and so many pictures selected for the vSalon may be inferior to many that are rejected; yet its public, relying largely on the judges as experts, must view the Salon's pictures as superior to the others, and under- estimate the general exhibition accordingly."
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Editoriat Notes
[November
IVilliam M. Page.
Philadelphia Salon^ igoo.
Apparently photography has not been so well represented at the Paris Exposition Writ- ing upon the subject the Practical Photographer says: Among professional exhibits things are much as they were at the exhibition of 1898. Public taste appears to have made little or no headway, and since the average professional has no ambition to do more than servilely reflect public taste, he is still wallowing in the mire of highly-glazed papers, excessive retouching, and theatrical poses. A few exceptions mark the rule: Instances of novel and effective vignett- ing, of beautiful printing in carbon or platinum, and the tasteful blending of print and mount, but look where one will it is scarcely possible to find a professional with any idea of good framing. One must turn to the sun-artists for refinement in frames, to the pictures of the Photo Club de Paris, or the British collection for which Mr. Craigie is responsible. The greater number of these have already been seen in England and to better advantage, for, as pictures by photography, they are unquestion- ably out of place in the trade and professional section.
But when we come to photography as applied to sundry arts and crafts and in scientific re- search, it is very much more in evidence than ten years ago; that is to say, the best idea of progress in photography is to be gathered from the exhibition generally, and not from its own section, if we except the pictures just mentioned which illustrate its development as an art Wherever you go, into whatever obscure alcove you may penetrate, there is almost cer-
tain to be a photograph or two, and sometimes many, illustrating perhaps a manufacturer's works, perhaps certain forms of machinery or apparatus, or buildings and scenery of special interest in different countries, portraits of in- habitants in national dress, and a thousand-and- one other details. This is where photography has made the greatest headway — as a faithful recorder.
So much is said nowadays about long focus cameras and combination lenses which allow of telephoto work, that it may be interesting to those concerned in the matter to examine two photographs made by a Cycle Solograph camera, with the regular Solograph lens, and with the same lens when the back combination only is used for telephoto work. Both photographs are taken from the same point of view and from the same spot, so that they give a very good idea of the magnification that the Solograph lens allows. These two photographs are sent by Mr. G. A. Conradi, of Bethlehem, Pa., who, commenting upon the same, writes as follows :
•• I am sending you under separate cover, two views of the Bethlehem Steel Co. works. These views are taken with a 4 x 5 Solograph, using the double combina- tion for the smaller, and the back lens alone for the larger one. The Solograph is, without doubt, the best on the market, to say nothing of the price. Have made over six dozen exposures during the past three weeks and they are all like the ones sent you. I can truly say, •* no failures with the Solograph."
A Monster Plate.-The M. A. Seed Dry Plate Com- pany recently made what is believed to be the largest dry plates ever produced. They were 5x8 feet, and weighed about 150 pounds each. They were made for Mr. Geo. R. Lawrence, of 2701 Indian Av- enue, Chicago. The first two exposed made very fine negatives.
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Photographing: by Light from Venus.— Dr. William R. Brooks, director of the Smith Observatory at Geneva. N. Y., has succeeded in photographing objects solely by the light from the planet Venus. The experiments were conducted within the dome of the observatory, so that all outside light was excluded except that which came from Venus through the open shutter of the dome. The time was the darkest hour of the night, after the planet had risen, and before the approach of dawn. The actinic property of the light from Venus was much stronger than anticipated, the photographic plates being remark- ably clear, intense, and fully timed. The experiments will be continued every clear night. Or. Brooks was an early worker in photography, and has used it for many years in his astronomical researches.— ^V/Vw//]/?^ America ft.
Broken Negatives.- Breakages are one of the draw- backs to glass plates. No matter how careful a worker is, he is sure to get breakages at some time or another, and it generally happens that it is a valuable negative that is broken. Care should be taken in picking up the negative that the film be not broken. Place the negative flat in a dish (film up), and pick off any little bits of glass that may be on it. Then cover it with pure hydro- chloric'acid i oz.. water 9 oz. While the negative — a quarter plate, let us suppose— is soaking obtain a half- plate glass, and well clean it. When this is ready, take a fine camel-hair pencil and try if the film will come off. If not, leave it to .soak a little longer. When it seems hke coming off, take it carefully up and put it into a big bowl of clean water, and gently with the brush roll it off. Then move it about till it straightens out flat (taking care not to reverse it). This is rather a trying job, but if the brush is carefully used and aided by occasional whisks of the water, it is fairly easy. -When it is flat take the half-plate glass (previously cleaned), and put it into the water. Gently brmg it up underneath the film, and lift the whole carefully out of the water. Steadily drain off all superfluous water, but be careful the film does not slide off as well. (Bubbles may be pressed out by the brush well wetted.) When it seems as though it were going to stick, stand the glass up to dry out of the dust. When nearly dry, take the negative and place it in methylated spirit for ten minutes or so; take it out of this and lay flat to dry. Negatives carefully done by this method will appear as if never broken. — D. T. D., in Photography,
of gray. It is, however, essential that they be well worn and characteristic; as to me, nothing is so bad as obviously dressed and posed models in a picture. Much pure white drapery should be avoided, a rinse in a weak yellow dye greatly improvmg such from a photographic point of view. Children should be dressed in plain simple things, clothes that can be romped in without fear of damage and of a dark cream for the lighter one. A special pinafore or two and a bonnet and hat are worth investing in. as sometimes a splendid model, unsuitably dressed, will be found, and if the right things are at hand, a minute or two works quite a transformation. On no account let the models look as if they had just stepped out of a bandbox. For older models, a blouse or two of unobtrusive patterned calico^and a skirt or so, dyed at home to the shade required, and not too much starched and ironed, will be found useful, and if the pattern is not too pronounced will not be recognized as old friends in every picture, as they will look quite different in every change of lighting.— T. Lee Syms in the Photographic Record,
Figure Subjects.— I find it best to either select a few costumes, with due regard to their photographic quali- ties, or have them made up specially of varying shades
** The American Annual of Photography and Pho- tographic Times Almanac," for 1901, is a Jim Dandy,
but oh, what a lengthy title the publishers insist upon giving it! Why not have called it '* The Photographic Annual," *' The Times Annual." '• Scovill's Annual," or some other title short and sensible? If we ever under- take to publish an annual, we will fill the cover full of good things and leave the Almanac section for patent medicine concerns to write up. But after all, maybe the almanac is a good feature; with its aid photographers can read up ** days and dates '' without worrying through a lot of liver complaint testimonials! Be this as it may, the 1901 edition is up-to-date in every respect, and is a worthy follower of the fourteen previous annuals that have been issued under the same lengthy title. The editor has taken more than usual care in the selection of both articles and illustrations, and we are inclined to be- lieve that little fault can be found with either this time. As a record of what amateur photographers throughout the country are doing, and the wonderful progress in pictorial photography, this annual is complete. Many of the pictures are reproductions from various salons and exhibitions held during the past year.
The professional photographer is also well represented, especially with the newer work that is attracting so much attention at present.
This Annual is like a department store (except that it is thoroughly reliable; no hand-me-downs or take bar- gains) and is continually adding new\features, one of the latest and best of which is the department entitled
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Notes and News
525
" Photo-Paragraphs "—short, pithy paragraphs of those little things that instruction books generally fail to give, but which the amateur needs to know all the same. — PAoto, Ticker.
The Careless Use of Ammonia.— How many serious consequences have resulted from the careless use of ammonia, the Todmorden News states, it would be difficult to calculate. ** In the first six months of this year many cases of poisoning, and the majority fatal, were recorded. In the year 189S, eleven persons died from the same cause. One of the chief sources of the mischief aris ?s from the unsuitability of the vessel in which it is kept. Any kind of bottle appears to be good enough to put it in. Ginger-beer bottles are most com- monly used, and times and times again these have been the sole cause of people being poisoned. The latest case reported is that of a mother who placed a bottle of this description c*ontaining ammonia on the mantlepiece, after using a portion for cleaning the bedroom floor. One of the children came in and drank of the liquid, re- sulting in death. Perhaps it may not have struck people who use these bottles that they are committing an act of dishonesty. Such bottles do not belong to them, but to the maker of the ginger beer, etc., and by using them they are robbing the owners of their pro- perty. Chemists and other sellers of ammonia might do a good deal to do away with the use of such bottles by refusing to put the liquid into them; but, unless there is combined action, the man who scrupulously refuses to supply ammonia in *pop' and other like bottles, suffers, because the would be purchaser rushes off to the more unscrupulous dealer."
The Action of Water Upon Glass.— The Journal of Applied Microscopy quotes from the experiences of an observer in India, who states that lenses of optical instru- ments are liable to serious mjury from atmospheric influences. Attention was directed to this phenomenon by the observation that domestic glassware, when allowed to stand for some time containing pure water, was more or less dissolved and eaten into. It was after- wards noticed that the glass discs of a Newton s Rings apparatus were attacked and spoiled by the same action. In another case the inner surface of the convex lens in the object combmation of a three-and-a-half-inch tele- scope was badly corroded From the last case it would appear that some kinds of glass are more readily at- tacked than others, for the flint glass of the other lens of the combination was apparently uninjured. The writer entertains no doubt that the corrosion in the cases cited above was due to moisture which collected between the glass surfaces. These observations, adds our con- temporary, may be of use to optical-instrument makers, especially as it appears that only particular kinds of glass are attacked in this way; for it may be possible to avoid glass of that composition, or the edges of com- bined lenses may be covered with a coating of cement or varnish, so as to prevent moisture getting in between them. This action is well known, at least to American instrument-makers, who avoid the use of glass that is subject to injury by atmospheric changes.
Shortening: Exposure by Using a Warm Developer.
—It is well known that the temperature of the developer
has a notable influence on its activity, but Dr. G. Hau- berrisser, writing in the Photographiscke Rundschau (September, 1900, p. 169), tells us that by using a warm developer the exposure may be reduced to half or even one-third. This, however, sometimes involves usinga de- veloper warmed to about 50 deg. centigrade, but to enable the film to withstand the action of an aqueous liquid at such a temperature it is necessary to harden the film by treatment in a formalin bath. When the system of warm development is carried to extreme, the details are as fol- lows : The plate, having received one-third the ordinary exposure, is allowed to remain for ten minutes in a 10 per cent formalin bath, after which it is rinsed. The developer is compounded of 10 c.c. of i to 10 solution of pyrocatechin, 10 c.c. of i to 5 solution of sodium sulphite, 0.5 c.c. of / to 10 solution of potassium bromide, 200 c.c. of water, and enough ammonia to make the solution dis- tinctly smell of it. The developer should be in a vertical or dipping bath, and the plate having been immersed, the bath is placed in water previously heated to about 55 deg. centigrade. Under these circumstances the tem- perature of the developer should slowly rise to 45 deg. When all detail has come out, the plate is washed, and fixed in a new acid fixing bath, a rather longer time than usual being required for fixation. The special practical value of the warm developer is said to rest in the fact that if the development of a plate is commenced in the ordinary way with any usual organic developer (amidol, for instance), and it is found that the exposure has been insufficient the development may be continued by the warm method. — The Amateur Photographer {American).
Collodion Dry Plates for Lantern Slides.— Dr. B.
WandoUeck, in Photo-Kaiendar, 1900, describes a
simple collodion process which lantern slide makers will
do well to try. Glass plates are well cleaned and coated
with a thin india-rubber solution. When dry, they are
coated with ordinary negative collodion and sensitized
on the following bath:
Silverniirate 100 f^'ammes, 44 grains
Nitric acid 15 drops, V6 minim
Potass iodide (5 percent solution). . 5 c.cs., 80 minims
Distilled water 1,000 c.cs., i ounce
After sensitizing they are treated in 3 per cent, tannic
acid solution and allowed to dry. Sensitizing and after
operations are to be done in yellow light. Plates keep
for a month and give very fine grained images. Expose
for ten minutes or so twenty inches from a petroleum
lamp and develop with:
Pyroffallic acid t gramme, 15 firrains
Citric acid i gramme, 15 grains
Water 300 c cs., 10 ounces
to each 30 c.cs. (i ounce^ of which are added at the time
of using 5 c.cs. (80 minims) of i per cent, silver nitrate
solution. — The P hologram.
Sensitizing Silk.- In Kng. Pat. No. 17,375, 1899, F. J. Farrell and E. Bentz claim t)ie novelty of the follow- ing process for rendering silk sensitive to light. It consists, in brief, in treating the fabric with nitrous acid, whereby a diazo compound is formed, which on exposure to light loses its property of forming colored compounds with phenols, amido, and other compounds.
Silk is treated for twelve hours in a weak solution of nitrous acid acidified with hydrochloric, sulphuric, or other acid. The silk becomes bright yellow in color, is
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Notes and News
[November
Afatki/de H^eti.
Philadelphia Salon, igoo.
THE NFW YOPK
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
A8TO«, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNO^TIONS.
rinsed in water, and dried in the dark. In diffused day- light it rapidly changes to pale buff When exposed MXiiXQT ei positive and afterwards treated with phenol, the light- affected portions remain unaltered, but the original surfaces become red, maroon, golden yellow, etc , ac- cording to the compound applied. A few of these are : Beta-napthol (red, turned maroon by cobalt salts); re- sorcinol (golden yellow, turned brown or olive by iron compounds, both in alkaline solution; aniline, meta-- phenylene-diamine, etc., in acid solution.
On exposure to light the nitrited fabric does not pass directly into a compound possessing no affinity for phe- nols and amido compounds, but arrives at an interme- diate stage on exposure for a shoiter time. If at this point it is placed in caustic alkali solution for a short time, a brown color is produced, and as the original diazo compound does not change color much with alkalies, this properly forms the basis for a photographic process, a dark brown positive on a yellow ground being obtain- able from a negative.
A further use of this intermediate stage is as follows: Print as first described from a positive, and then expose the whole surface to light for a short time. The inactive (light-affected) parts are not further altered; the active parts are converted into the brown compounds when treated with an alkali.
Further notes on this process will appear by courtesy of one of the inventors next month. The specimens, which reach us just as we go to press, show the ex- cellence of the process for broadly decorative effects. — The Photo^ram.
The Springfield Camera Club held their annual meeting October 24, 1900, at which time the following officers were elected :
President, Joseph D Roscoe; Secretary. John W. Roberts; Librarian, Frank K. Porter; Executive Ck)m- mittee, Joseph D. Roscoe. John W. Roberts, L. C. Langdon, E. L. Pease, F. H. Huntley. Room Com- mittee, A. D. Copeland, Philip W. Lee.
The club will hold its annual exhibition November 13, 14, and 15, and every effort is being put forth to make it a grand success.
Spoilt Prints. — An otherwise good print on Velox or other gaslight paper is sometimes spoilt through the blacks being green or brown from the presence of too much bromide or other cause. If this is the case do not throw the print away, but next time you have a gold toning bath going, tone it The resulting color will be a pleasing blue-black. — Photographic News,
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THE THOTOGRATHIC "mSES 'iRECOPD
Of G)mpctitions Open to Photographers*
NAME
Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal
ADDRESS
Philadelphia, Pa.
Philadelphia, Pa.
SUBJECT
Attractive
Outdoor
Scenes in the
C'ountry
City Back Yards
PRIZES
CLOSING DATE
RESTRICTIONS REMARKS
1 at $150.00 100.00 76.00 50.00 25.00 10.00
1 at 1 at 1 at 1 at
10 at
Indianapolis Press Leslie's Veekly
Indianapolis, | Chaiifired Bl- ind. I weekly
1 at $50.(i0 1 at 25.00 1 at 10 00
$5.00, $3.00 and \ $2.00
November 1, 1900
Sec Journal for April
Address Art Bureau
October 1, 1900
Bi-weekly
See Journal
Must use Coupon Amateurs only
Leslie's Weekly Leslie's Weekly
New York, N. Y.
New York
New York.
Recent Cur- rent Events
Paris ExpK>sition
Negro Life, Summer Ke- .sorts, Indian Life, etc. etc.
$5.00 Cash
$20.00
$10 00 Each Class
Weekly November 1
Weekly
Amateurs No Copyright Pictures
See Paper
Address Art Bureau
See Paper
$1 paid for each photograph used
$a paid for each photograph used
See Paper
Patent Record
Mail and Express liU Buffalo Express
The American Boy
Baltimore, Md.
Unique Sub- jects and Re- cent Current Events
$5.00. $3 00 and $2.00
New York, N. Y.
Buflfalo, N. Y.
Detroit, Mich.
The Camera
Philadelphia, Pa.
Western Camera Notes ^*"S,?r£:"^'
Photo Beacon Cottage and Castle
Chicago,
New York
General
No Set Sub. ject
$6.00 Cash $2.00
15th of each month
Weekly
Nov. 15, 1900
Monthly
Amateurs
See Paper
Amateurs No Pictures Re-
No Copyright Pictures | tiurned
Photographs pub . lished and paid for I liberally
See Paper
Subscribers' only
$1. paid for each photograph used
Cats, Kittens, Tabbies.
$8 00 $2.00
Nov. 26, 1900
Amateurs only
See Paper
Landscape
with Figures.
Still Life
Cash and Materials
Oct. 81
Subscribers and Ama- teurs only. See Rules.
Snap-shot Pictures
General
Books
$5.00 Cash
October 31, 1900
15th of each month
See Rules Amateurs only
Held Monthly
Held Monthly See Rules
Outdoor Life
Denver, Colo.
l.UOO Grain Silver Medal
Use Coupon
Held Monthly See Magazine
Photo American
New York
Photo-American The Amateur Pointer
New York New York
Portraits
Landscapes
General
J« B. Williams Co.
Twentieth Century Qub Northwestern Amateur
Glastonbury, Conn.
Boston, Mass
St Paul, Minn.
Figures of Jersey Cows or Milkmaids
Disfigure- ment by Ad- vertisements
Books and Materials
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Vol. XXXII.
DECEMBER, 1900.
No.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.
Beginning with the January, 1 901, issue The Photographic Times (for over thirty years the leading photog^raphic magazine) will make the following important changes : For some time Ave have been in constant receipt of complaints regarding the unwieldliness of the magazine. We have therefore decided to reduce it to standard magazine size, and the subscription price to Two Dollars per Annum. Notwithstanding the great reduction in price, there will be the same number of pages, more entertaining and instructive matter, and the same wealth of illustrations. Each issue will contain a Photogravure Frontispiece as usual.
Note. —Send $2 00 for a year's subscription from January to December, 1901. and you will receive the remaining issues of the present year free. Unexpired subscriptions will be extended to correspond with the amount paid.
The Photographic Times Publishing Association,
3 and 5 West Nineteenth Street, New York City.
A CENTURY OF APPLIED PHOTOG- RAPHY.
BY E. linc;a\ bovvlus.
IN the vain pursuit of 'first causes,' we eagerly trace back- ward the main course of events leading up to any one well defined presentstate or condition, we are as- tonished at the secret springs of action that gave birth to that state or condition. All material things are the end products of en-
HARD WORK.
/r. Blackburn.
vironment — man himself being no exception to this rule. The deeper we penetrate the mys- teries of evolution, through long aions of time, the more mysterious, diverse, and incongruous become the elementary causes leading up to any one end result.
It is interesting in this connection to note the debt photography owes to the great con- flict man has been waging with his environ- ment, or to be more specific, to avarice, born of that conflict and fed through the portals of alchemy and superstition. Deeply buried within the dreamy past of man's physical and mental evolution, in the mysterious region of primi- tive consciousness, were nascent forces preg- nant with all that man now is or ever will be. Environment coordinates these forces until man, the finished product, is at hand. Man, full of imperfections and timid of the future, ex- aggerates his future wants and risks. He prepares for them by accumulating wealth and becomes avaricious in the extreme. Soon beautiful visions of alchemy audits possibilities disturb his slumbers and his avariciousness is
Copyright, igoo, by The Scovill & Adams Cu. of New York. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y., Post Office.
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A Centuiy of Applied ^Photography
[Decembkr
confirmed. Possessing the ** elixir of life '* and the ability to transmute baser metals into gold, what more could be desired? Modem chem- istry arose from the vain efforts of these al- chemists of old and with it the young science of photography.
In such an atmosphere chemical facts pos- sessed an intrinsic charm that spurred the alchemist on to greater endeavors. His en- deavors were but feebly realized, yet they paved the way to future discoveries in pho- tography. They fed the flames of genius in Nifepce and Daguerre. These men had illus- trious predecessors in the persons of Fabricius and Schultze, who observed the action of light on horn silver and silver salts, respectively; and of Scheele, who discovered the varied actinicity of the colors of the spectrum. It remained, however, for Ni&pce and Daguerre to utilize these facts and make the first per- manent heliographic pictures. Thus far pic- tures were made on metal, and although the labors of Nifepce and Daguerre began early in the present century, it was not until fifty years later that the **wet plate" or collodion process came into vogue and pictures were made on paper support. Twenty years later — about 187 1 — gelatine emulsion plates took the field and, owing to their wonderful rapidity, were soon applied extensively throughout the arts and sciences.
Within the narrow limits necessary it is impossible to cover the entire field of photo- graphic applications during the present cen- tury, and indeed this is not our intention. We believe that a due appreciation of the scope, the marvelous progress, and wonderful appli- cations of this beautiful science can be gained by a simple consideration of what we term its ordinary and scientific applications.
The ordinary applications of photography are portraiture and illustration. None can estimate the importance of these to the masses, and especially to art and science. Although modem photography may have been nascent in the observations of Fabricius on horn silver in 1556, and in the. experiments of Schultze with silver salts in 1727, the great length of the exposure retarded its application to actual por- traiture until 1840, when Dr. Draper took a picture of his sister, the first portrait taken with a camera. The portrait of to-day has displaced the costly miniature and painting of the past and laid in the hands of the poorest
a portrait of loved ones to be cherished and preserved long years afterwards.
Illustration has given the masses glimpses of foreign lands, of great men and their fol- lowers, and in conjunction with printing has enlarged their mental horizon — freeing it from the gloom of ignorance and superstition.
Art and science have profited in like man- ner through the recent achievements in illus- tration or so-called photo-mechanical printing processes. Of these, the gum-bichromate and "half tone" processes are the most important. The latter has usurped the place of the older free-hand sketch in modem magazines and is full of promise for the future. It is curious to note just here the return, as it were, to first principles, in that the earlier daguerreotype picture and the recent half tone image are both on metal support, the only difference being that while the former remains on its metal support, the latter is used in conjunction with type and for convenience sake its image is transferred to paper during the printing pro- cess.
The educational value of illustration to the masses is inestimable. University lectures and university extension work are no longer con- sidered thorough unless provided with a stere- opticon or ** magic lantern" apparatus. In- structors in kindergartens, high schools, and universities, greatly aid the understanding of salient points by using the lantern — thus rein- forcing aural with visual perception.
Amateur photography has reached enormous proportions and is not one of the least of the ordinary applications of photography.
It is, however, in its purely scientific appli- cations especially that photography has won lasting laurels. Here it is, in fact, the "retina of science," whose chief function is to arrest and preserve on sensitive film, in a convenient form for study, all natural phenomena whose extreme slowness or rapidity are beyond the powers of the human eye. As a limner of objects in rapid motion photography may be styled the graphics of motion.
The ability to take instantaneous pictures is a quite recent one. This was impossible in the time of Ni^pce, whose asphaltum pictures re- quired six hours* exposure, and also in the time of Daguerre who, in 1839, had reduced the exposure to thirty minutes. It was some time in the seventies when Maddox and Ben- nett perfected the gelatine dry-plate that the
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A Century of Applied ^ofography
53'
THE OLD MILL.
By /f. P. Aj^new,
application of photography to scientific pursuits began.
In the realm of physics photography has been of inestimable value in the study of light. Ever since Newton's memorable analysis of light and Scheele's later observations on the relative actinic value of the colors of the spec- trum it has been the aim of the photographer to reproduce those colors and give them their true value when in monochrome. The former process constitutes the so-called color photogra- phy, and has been partially realized through the labors of Lippmann, Ducos du Hauron, Joly, and Ives; the latter process has been realized through the use of the **orthochro- matic" plate, first introduced by Dr. Vogel, of Berlin.
On either side of the solar spectrum is a region just recently explored and visible only to the photographic eye — ^in all, fifteen times the length of the visible spectrum. Crossing this spectrum are many dark bands which the photographic plate has revealed and which Bunsen and Kirchhoff have interpreted. These dark colored bands have been photographed far within the ultra-violet region and consti- tute the ** absorption spectrum" of the sun.
They are direct evidence of the presence in the sun of certain elementary constituents, many of which occur on the earth. At the other end of the spectrum, in the ultra-red region, are heat rays responsive only to the bolom- eter. These, too, have been explored by the aid of photography. A study of spectrum bands has led to the discovery of new elements. The significance of spectrum bands in the study of astronomy will be dealt with in that con- nection.
Passing from the science of spectroscopy to radiography which, like the former, is probably a study of waves, we come to a quite recent achievement in photography, i.e., X-ray pho- tography. While the X-rays are of great in- terest to the physicist, owing to their ability to cause fluorescence and penetrate solid media, their chief practical importance is found in their application to medicine and surgery. The penetrability of these rays varies with the object — some objects being opaque, others transparent, to these rays. Viewed with a fluorescent screen bone fractures and joint dislocations are easily seen and set with great accuracy. Bullets and other foreign substances in the body are easily located.
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A Century of Appliea ^otography
[December
As a means of diagnosing aneurisms of the heart and aorta, calcification of arteries, in- ternal tumors, displaced, hypertrophied, or atro- phied organs, these rays are unexcelled. The rays are strongly actinic and photographs or so-called '* shadowgraphs " of bone through in- tervening tissue are easily taken, and may be used in class-room demonstrations. Quite re- cently attempts have been made, with some degree of success, to obtain kinetographic pic- tures of heart, lung, and diaphragm move- ments, by means of X-rays, for use also in the class-room.
Instantaneous photography as a product of this century is exemplified in Edison's kineto- graph, which takes pictures at intervals of one forty-sixth of a second, the exposure being one- sixtieth of a second. Yet this is not the limit to sensitiveness. Muybridge, in the study of animal motion, has made exposures of the one five-thousandth of a second, and Decombe has photographed ** Hertz waves" in less than the five -millionth part of a second.
With one exception, perhaps, the kinetograph is the most wonderful application of photo- graphy to science during the century. In con- junction with the electric spark instantaneous photography is of great service to the physicist in accurately observing and recording the pro- gress of phenomena too rapid for the ordinary eye, or perhaps inaccessible to human observa- ation. Thus the phenomena of aviation, the complex forces dominating the propulsion of a boomerang from the hand of an Australian bushman, and many other phenomena may be recorded upon kinetographic films, their com- ponent motions analyzed, and laws governing them deduced at pleasure. Until instantaneous photography was possible, and the kinetograph no longer the dream of scientists, the solution of these problems and many others of like kind was more or less conjectural.
Instantaneous photography has been of great service to the biologist. Among many other facts it has revealed to him striking similarities in the locomotion of man and the lower ani- mals, and in the eel and adder.
As an aid to the study of the heavens the value of photography cannot be computed, and its application thus to the science of astronomy is, in our opinion, the most important of all its applications during the century. Certain it is the great problems of planetary birth, life, and death have been made clearer, the limits
of the visible universe enlarged, and the ele- mentary nature, density, and kinds of motion of individual stars, or star groups — in fact, all things astronomical — are more easily studied, better understood and appreciated now than formerly when, owing to the ** personal equa- tion," many errors entered into astronomical observations. The assistance rendered to as- tronomy may be better appreciated when we say that photography is the Cohimbiis of astronomy.
As a discoverer there is no nook nor corner of the visible universe that escapes the pierc- ing, unweaiied, and accurate eye of photo- graphy, and the boundaries of this universe are limited only by the sensitiveness of the dry- plate. Myriad stars, visible only to the dry- plate, have been or will be added to the present number when the photography of the entire heavens (first conceived in 1882), shall have been accomplished. The number of the stars seems to be dependent only upon the sensitive- ness of the dry-plate, so that given greater sen- sitiveness the deeper will be our gaze into the depths of infinite space and the larger the number of known heavenly bodies. The as- teroid Eros, and Phoebe, the ninth satellite of Saturn, were discovered within the last two years through the aid of photography.
Celestial photography first began in March, 1840, with the photography of the moon by Draper. To-day the moon remains **the best photographed of all celestial objects." In 1882 the first comet was photographed. It was not, however, until 1891 that photography was successfully applied in the daily investigation of solar phenomena. To-day photography is indispensable in the science of astronomy, especially in the study of solar phenomena, where short-lived eruptions often occur and elude the efforts of the draughtsman. In the study of sun-spots, facula^, coronal streamers, and solar prominences during total eclipses, much interesting data has been accumulated through the aid of photography.
The application of photography to spectro- scopy has produced undreamed of results. Photographs of star spectra tell us wonderful stories. They tell us that celestial bodies are composed of much the same constituents as the earth ; they tell us that this bright star is a glowing solid; that one, a highly condensed gas, aglow with light ; and still another, a true nebula. Star spectra, when out of position,
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A Centuty of Applied Vhotography
[December
TMC PLOWCR OIRL.
H, Heidentraus.
indicate movement away from or towards the earth.
The achievements of spectrum photography in other lines have been equally brilliant. Thus the variability of the spectrum of the star Beta Aurigae led to the discovery that it was a double star. Saturn's rings have been proven meteoric and sun prominences are now no longer regarded as composed of hydrogen gas alone, but also of large quantities of calcium vapor.
Chemistry owes to photography the discovery of the elements victorium, coronium, and helium, all of which have spectra in the ultra- violet region. In the study of the elements spectroscopy promises to throw much light on the constitution and nature of the ultimate par- ticles of matter through the aid of photography.
The sphere of applied photography is growing constantly larger and larger with the gradual perfection of its technique and photographic mechanical appliances, until to-day it embraces, with few exceptions, all departments of art, science, and literature.
Along with the evolution of dry-plates came improved cameras, with lenses corrected for all kinds of aberration. Of the many different kinds of lenses on the market the telephoto- graphic lens is a wonderful product of modem optical ingenuity, and promises to be of great utility along various lines of advance. The art which this lens has created is that of telephotography, or long-distance photography, and the enlarged dimensions of the distant object, combined with the element of security which this lens introduces into that which is inaccessible or dangerous, commends it to all. Thus it is especially useful in conducting sieges and reconnaisances in these times of smokeless powder, and doubly so when com- bined with balloon and mid-air kite photo- graphy. Very clear views of intrenchments, fortifications, and hostile camps can be had at a distance of ten to sixteen kilometers. The art of war cannot claim its only applica- tion, for the geologist can photograph with it the features of some inaccessible, cliff; the naturalist, some wild animal in its native
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1900]
Imogen, A New Developing Substance
537
IMOGEN, A NEW DEVELOPING SUBSTANCE.
BY G. GAEDICKEI..
THE Actien-Gesellschaft fUr Anilin-Fabrikation, of Berlin, Germany, has added to the series of organic developers a new one which has been put on the market of photographic industry under the name of Imogen. It is in the form of white powder, and is easily solu- ble in water.
It may be asked whether it is necessary to increase the number of developers recently brought out. But seeing that one person obtains the best results with rodinal, another with eikonogen, others again with amidol, metol, hydroldnone or pyro, it must be acknowledged that the employment of a certain developer is a matter of taste governed entirely by the individuality of the operator, so that there never can be too many developers, because every developer has its particular properties and peculiarities, and therefore the introduction of Imogen is justified.
Undoubtedly this new reagent will soon gain a great number of friends, who will obtain the best results by using it.
The qualities of Imogen were at first tested by means of the sensitometer, because by this a definite numerical result can be obtained, which is evidently superior to judging a nega- tive, obtained by merely obtaining a plate on an ordinary landscape or other subject; firstly because the operator has a definite amount of light, and secondly because the character of the image can be better examined by the successive density of each square recorded.
The normal exposure for a sensitometer scaled with I to 16 layers of tissue paper was 120 ** Meter Candles " seconds, i.e. an exposure of 120 seconds was necessary at a distance of one meter from a standard one candle power. The number 16 thus obtained indicates a highly sensitive plate, numbers 12-13 on the other hand, plates of medium sensitiveness. The plates employed were of medium sensi- tiveness.
The preparation of the solutions is very simple.
Solution A is prepared by adding to a solu-
ALONO TMC BLUE D«NUBr.
Bv A'tir/ Moss/.
tion of 10 ounces of water and i ounce of soda sulphite crystals, ij ounce of Imogen. If an- hydrous sulphite be used, take only half the quantity prescribed ot the crystals. These ex- periments were with crystals.
Solution B is prepared from ordinary crystal- ized washing soda, which is dissolved in double its quantity of water.
It is better to prepare both solutions with hot water so as to expel all the air, thus rendering the solutions more stable.
The developer for normal exposure consists of solution A one part, to which half a part of solu- tion B is added. If the solution is freshly made and the plate is correctly exposed, the image appears in 15 seconds, and is fully developed in four minutes
The sensitometer image was developed after normal exposure of 120 meter candles seconds. The numbers i to 3 showed a dark shade, but could not be distinguished. The numbers were legible up to 15, but could only be copied up to 13. Thus there were ii numbers, which could be printed from. The density was very heavy and the color of the deposit was a warm black.
To test for under exposure, half the normal ex- posure was given, />. 60 meter candles seconds, and the developer was modified by diluting solution A with an equal quantity of water and
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Stony 'Point
[December
half the quantity of the soda solution, for
example:
Solution A I ounce
Water i ounce
Solution B % ounce
The image appeared in 40 seconds, and was developed in 4J minutes. The sensitometer No 12 could be copied, but No. i contrasted well against No. 2, so that 1 2 shades able to be copied, could be counted. This shows that better nega- tives will be obtained by scant than by abundant exposure.
For over-exposure the plate was exposed double the time given for correct exposure, !>., 240 meter candles seconds, one drop of potassium bromide 10 per cent, solution being added for every cub. cent, of the developing solution.
The image appeared in 35 seconds, and was fully developed in 4 minutes. The number 12 could still be printed. The numbers i to 3 had nearly the same appearance, so that there were 10 grades that could be printed, but the image was less soft and poorer in color. The abundant addition of potassium bromide, while degrading the finest impressions of light, did not retard development so much was to be expected. A very large quantity of potassium bromide can therefore be added to Imogen.
A special advantage was obtained when by normal exposure the development was made up with increased quantity of alkali and potassium bromide, namely, i^ part A and one part B with 60 drops solution of potassium bromide to every 55 cub. cent, of solution. The image appeared in 40 seconds, was developed in 5 minutes, and showed a gradation of Nos. i to 11 or 12, the great amount of alkali having a favorable in- fluence upon the designs in the high lights.
In comparison with rodinal, Imogen brings the image out better, and has a more powerful action. The character of negatives developed with Imogen is similar to those obtained with hydrokinone.
The new developer works very brilliantly. Even with plates exposed on landscapes during dull and rainy weather, negatives full of contrasts were obtained. If the negative is too dense, treatment with persulphate of ammonia will reduce it. This ought to be done imme- diately the fixed negative has been washed. The advantage being that the density is reduced, and at the same time any remaining hypo will be eliminated, so that after this process a short washing will do.
The following deduction can be made from this examination of Imogen:
1. Imogen is a very energetic and active developer.
2. It produces brilliant negatives.
3. The deposit is of good density.
4. It is especially of use for short exposures.
5. It does not affect the fingers.
6. The time of development is normal, even if an abundant amount of potassium bromide has been added.
7. The best results are obtained, if develop- ment is made slower by diluting the developer with water or if a large amount of alkali is em- ployed in addition to potassium bromide.
STONY POINT-
BY ADELAIDE SKEKL.
"G
ENERAL WAYNE had his headquarters at Mrs. Wool's house, which was near my father's, and I saw him nearly every day. He was short and heavy set and had red eyes, and the soldiers said he had Mad Anthony's eyes. They called the dog Mad Anthony altogether. Trip was a Tory in feelings, for he hated the sight of a soldier because they teased him."
— Ruthenber's History of Newburgh. The present chronicler has her headquarters in Newburgh, but Mrs. Wool's house, which was presumably Weigand's Tavern, on the Glebe, has long since been pulled down. Here it was that Colonel Hasbrouck's regiment met upon "any proper alarm." Moreover, without "any proper alarm," the soldiers met here to make merry. This tavern was their Road- house, and their Bicycler's Rest, and a thou- sand pities it is, one cannot recall its ghost dis- tinctly enough to get its photograph. Knowing how taverns in Revolutionary days were stocked with hogsheads of cider and casks of rum, with half-gill pewter wine measures and two dram liquor glasses, it is no wonder the eyes of the bravest warriors were red, nor indeed is it any wonder that Trip hated the loyalists and re- mained ever a Tory at heart, when one remem- bers that on the evening of the Stony Point battle, by Wayne's order all the dogs were to be killed lest they alarm the British by their bark- ing and spoil the surprise attack on the fort. I was always sorry for those dogs, the canine martyrs to whom no monument has been erected, whose death no poet has sung. If there
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Virginia M. Prall.
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Stony Point
[December
PORTRAIT OF SELF
IN SICILIAN COSTUMC.
By
Count vjH Gloetien.
be any collateral descendants living to-day, they could truly be numbered and honored as Dogs of the American Revolution— (D A. R.).
Stony Point juts out into the Hudson on its western bank, opposite Ver Planck's Point, which is eight miles below Peekskill. There was a small fort on each promonotor^^ thus placed to guard the gate of the Highlands, and when these strongholds were captured by the British, in June, 1779, it was Washington's first anxiety to regain them and thus save West Point.
** General, I'll storm hell if you'll only plan it," said Mad Anthony to the Commander in- Chief, and on July 15, just six weeks after the loss of the forts, they were recaptured, and the promise was redeemed. Here is the triumphant
letter to Washington, written before daylight on the following morniog :
Stoney Point, i6th July, 1779. ) 2 O'clock A. M. \ Dear GenU, The fort & Garrison with Col. Johnson are our's. Our Officers & men behaved like men who are deter- mined to be free.
Yours most sincerely,
Ant'y Wayne. Gen'l Washington.
To appreciate the difficulty of the attack one must visit Stony Point and actually set foot on its stones, and if one happens to be carrying a 5x7 camera with six double plate-holders filled with glass plates, besides a folding wooden tripod, it will not take too much imagination to feel for the soldiers who climbed these steep rocks laden with heavy muskets. The Point
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THE PHILOSOPHER.
A'. It rock.
-I /
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Lantern Slide Making
[Deckmker
looks so soft and lovely in an afternoon light as one sails smoothly past on a river steamboat that it is a surprise on landing to find the approach so steep. The natural fortifications
of the site are rendered more impregnable by the island-like situation of the promonotory at low tide. Across this morass, over which a causeway has since been built, marched Mad Anthony's men, each with a bit of white paper stuck in his cap. On meeting the first sentinel, the countersign was given, then followed the skirmish in the midnight darkness till the enemy yielded and the words of the coun- tersign proved prophetic :
*■ The fort is ours."*
We approached Stony Point via the West Shore Railroad, stopping off at Tompkin's Cove, where we hailed a boatman to ferry us out and save ourselves the long march of our ancestors acrcss the causeway. The boatman tarried an hour for his dinner, leaving us scarcely another to take the Point, yet so charming a view was obtainable from the river that we could not regret our plan of campaign. We could have wished for less of an Indian summer haze in the air, for less non-actinic yellow foliage, for less sea on the Hudson, and less jarring to the camera, yet the point of view was perfect. Looking northward one sees Stony Point stretching out on the river, its pines and firs standing like sentinels on its bluffs, while the white bell-tower, a structure without special architectural beauty, gives a point of interest to the picture.
The Society for the Preservation of Scenic and Historic Places and Objects has succeeded in get- ting a bill passed by the State, appropriating $25,000 for the purchase of this land. The deeds were executed a few months ago and the above named association has the care and juris- diction of the property. At present there is no money for developing the place, but an appro- priation is hoped for, and meanwhile the historic land is in good hands. It is hoped it will be opened as a park to the public at an early date. The State owns all the land between the rail- road and the government light-house, the State holding about thirty acres, the government about six.
It w^as not enough for us to photograph the Point from a small boat two hundred feet off. We landed. We scrambled up the bank^ We balanced ourselves as best we could on the ragged edge of nothing at all and took the bell- towxr close at hand. We drank from Mad An-
thony's spring which was unfortunately located in a dense thicket at the foot of a dark pine tree beside a gray rock and therefore not to be easily put on a plate be the plate never so sensitive. We photographed the light-house w^hich stands on the remains of the old fort, and when we re- traced our steps, we heard in the distance the bark of a dog. Could one have survived ? "Bow- wow" snarled the Tory.
LANTERN SLIDE MAKING FOR BEGIN- NERS.
BY rUIMROSK HILL.
XIV.— TONING (OR COLORING) SLIDES.
(61) There must be something particularly fascinating about toning slides, if one may esti- mate the popularity of the subject from the large number of form uke published, experiments made, and questions asked. By toning we here mean changing the color of a slide; for example, converting a black image into a brown, green- blue, or red one. This is not to be confused with locally coloring, tinting, or painting slides by means of oil, or water color, or dye solutions.
It must be remembered that w^hen by some chemical bath we alter the color of the image on a slide we very often also alter the density at the same time. We may increase or reduce density in this way. But in the present chapter we shall give our chief attention to the color change. In this sense the term toning is to be understood for the present.
To give one half of the published formulae would tend to bewilder rather than help the be- ginner. Therefore we shall content ourself by- quoting a few fairly typical toning baths, and ask the reader to take it for granted that most of those omitted are but unimportant modifica- tions of those quoted.
(62) Let us begin with platinum as a toning^ agent.
Platinum tetrachloride 2 grains
Water 10 ounces
Acidify with nitric acid.
The change of color here is very slight. This bath gives a black tone, verging towards blue- black, and also reduces the image at the same time. It may therefore be useful for slides of excessive density.
(63) Another bath contains the chloroplatinite of potassium in place of the tetrachloride salt. Thus:
Potassium chloroplatinite 2-4 grains
Water ro ounces
Acidify with nitnc or phosphoric acid.
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Lantern Slide Making
543
THC WILLOWS.
/.> fT. C. Bakrr.
This bath does not reduce the density like the last one. The color change tends to a warmer black.
(64) Our next bath combines platinum with gold.
Platinum tetrachloride i grain
Gold chloride i grain
Water 10 ounces
Acidify with hydrochloric or nitric acid.
This bath yields a warm black tone with little or no change of density. .
(65) We now pass to a bath which contains only gold as a toning metal.
Gold chloride . i grain
Pure water 1 ounce
This bath is said to yield a long range of colors, from black to blue, and even pink. For its working it is essential that the slide be very
thoroughly well washed. Its action is very slow on account of the absence of a suitable chlorine absorbent. Some workers prefer to acidify this bath with hydrochloric or nitric acid.
(66) Next we give two forms of a gold bath which represent the limits of several formulse
A B
Gold chloride i g^. 3 gr.
Soda carbonate 2 gr. 5 gr.
Ammonium sulphocyanide. 50 gr. 100 gr.
Water , 4 oz. io oz.
Some workers prefer to use ammonium carbon- ate in place of sodium carbonate. In mixing this bath a little care is needed. First dissolve the sulphocyanide in about three quarters of the total quantity of water to be used. Then dis- solve the gold in the remainder of the water, add the gold solution a few drops at a time, with continual stirring, to the sulphocyanide solution
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Lantern Slide Making
[Deckmber
(and not vice versa). Finally, add the soda car- bonate dissolved in a few drops of water. This bath gives a purple black or blue tone, accord- ing to the time the slide is left in it.
With sulphocyanide toning generally it may be said that increasing the proportion of this salt tends to give bluer tones.
With gold toning generally the longer the toning the bluer the result.
Slides which have previously been dried are slower to tone than those which have not been dried after washing.
A slide when dry, especially after gold toning, looks a little cooler in color, i,e., more blue or gray, than when wet.
(67) We now pass to the combined bath, />., one which contains gold and hypo.
Cold chloride 2 grains
Soda carbonate 3 grains
Am. sulphocyanide 30 grains
Water 10 ounces
Hypo I grain
Prepare, as already explained, by adding the gold solution to the sulphocyanide solution, and then add the hypo previously dissolved in a few drops of water. Another formulae avoids the trouble of weighing one grain of solid hypo by taking one drop of a saturated solution of this useful salt.
(68) Observe in the last bath the small quantity of hypo used, and notice the relatively large quantity in the next given three formula below.
ABC
(Jold chloride i gr. 9 gr. 4 gr.
Am. sulphocyanide 25 gr. 240 gr. 120 gr.
Soda acetate — 360 gr. 240 gr.
Alum — 120 gr. —
Hypo 250 gr. 3 oz. 2^02.
Water 2 oz. 12 oz 10 oz.
All these three baths are well recommended by various authorities. If desired, they may be used as fixing and toning baths combined. But if so used they soon become uncertain in results, on account of the silver haloid dissolved out of the film by the hypo in the fixing stage. The tones these baths give are purple and bluish.
(69) Our next agent is mercury bichloride. The reader by this time will hardly need re- minding that if he does not want spots and stains the plate must be first well fixed and then well washed before it goes into a sqlution of mercury. Nor will he need to be told that this is likely to increase the density.
First let the reader turn back and see what
was said as to preparing the mercury bleaching bath in par. 66 in the chapter on intensification, and its subsequent treatment by ferrous oxalate, ammonia, soda carbonate, soda sulphite, and hypo. These after baths give us a range of strength and of color. It may now be useful to add that we may use as a darkener.
Ammonium sulphide i part
Water 20 parts
This gives us a fuller density, and a color which ranges from brown to black.
Again, we may use various other developers as darkeners, e,g., ortol, metol, rodinal, hydro- kinone, pyro, etc.
The colors they give vary from a good black with hydrokinone to greenish brown with pyro. But results vary somewhat with the brand of plate used, age of developer, etc. For example, old ortol may yield a pinkish tinge, old pyro a yellow brown, and so on.
These results are partly gelatine stains, and the beginner is recommended to let them stand over for the present.
(70) We may, however, say a good word for the use of gold as an after bath following bleaching by mercury. It of course goes with- out saying that after bleaching with mercury, in any and every case the plate must be well washed before any further treatment, but this especially with gold. The following bath will serve very well as a fair type of this bath:
Gold chloride i grain
Water 3 ounces
Ammon sulphocyanide 6 gjrains
This will convert the bleached slide into a yellowish brown color. — A mateur Photographer.
Sharp focusing when enlarging is simplified if the following plan is adopted : Take a clean glass plate the size of negative to be enlarged, and some black sewing silk or cotton. Tie the thread round one end of the glass, and proceed to wrap round and round imtil the other end is reached; allowing a space of a quarter of an inch between the threads on the same surface. Tie tightly, and repeat the wrapping lengthwise, thus crossing the threads and leaving open quarter-inch squares. Now coat the plate on one side with any clear varnish or a solution of gelatine. When set hard and dry, cut through the threads along all four edges of the plate, and you have a transparent screen, ruled with fine opaque lines on one side. Place this in the negative holder, ruled side towards the lens, focus the lines on the enlarging board or easel ; they show up clear and bright, thus saving time and trouble. Take out the screen, substi- tute the negative, and you are ready for work. — E. M. in Photography.
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Life Behind a Dealer's Counter
545
LIFE BEHIND A DEALER'S COUNTER*
IT is a pleasant relief to the humdrum of business life to find that the routine of daily duty behind the photographic dealer's counter is not without its humor- ous side, says the Optician and Photo- graphic Trades Review, Those engaged in any retail trade, and the photographic dealer's is no exception, are wont to expatiate upon the peculiarly irritating nature of their daily busi- ness; and we have sometimes felt that a narrow- ness of outlook is indicated in the expression of the supposition that their particular trade has a monopoly of the trials and tedious tribulations arising out of the conduct of a quasi- artistic and scientific emporium. It goes without sa5ring that in such a business as the sale of photo- graphic materials and apparatus, one in which the veriest tyro of twenty-four hours* experience claims the right to the expression of an emphatic opinion, that the salesman requires not only a considerable knowledge of the goods which he is selling, but also an equally considerable amount of tact and self-control in handling the firm's customers.
This point was very clearly brought out at a recent meeting of a London photographic so- ciety, where many of those connected with the London photographic dealing trade foregather once a week. A writer of a paper which was read before the society— himself an assistant in London— gave some most amusing instances of the humors of the counter. He pointed out that the assistant is expected by the customer to know all about everything; and as if this were not a sufficient tax upon his knowledge he must also be qualified to explain the causes and remedies for every photographic failure which the amateur can perpetrate. Not only must he be able to recognize ** hyperfosilite of soda" under a designation which will hardly be found in a modern book of reference, but he must be able to imagine that ** hypercone and metal " means "hydrokinone and metol." These in- stances, however, only indicate a lack of definite acquaintance with words, and the budding amateur may yet become a great pictorial pho- tographer. It is when the confusion is one of ideas that the assistant with a sense of humor may find himself quite at a loss for a suitable explanation.
As an instance of the latter — we are still drawing from the same source of information — a lady customer asked the writer of the paper's
advice under the following circumstances. She was in possession of a camera which, although it had worked well, afterwards gave unsatis- factory results. As a matter of fact the nega- tives produced in that particular camera were always "spotty." Now the original owner of the camera was unfortunate enough to contract some zymotic disease, and the camera had been kept in his bedroom. The patient having re- covered, the usual fumigation of the room for disinfecting purposes took place, but being a careful person the lady had had the camera re- moved before the fumigation took place. The question she wanted solved was: Did the assist- ant think it likely that the "spots" were caused by anything to do with the germs of the disease ? We shall be glad to hear from those of our readers engaged in the various photographic stock houses giving the most amusing experience. A year's subscription to The Photographic TiMF.s will be given for the best.
Mounting Gelatine Prints.— It is a common practice with those who employ gelatine prints to give to the fin- ished picture a glossy surface by squeegeeing the print to the glass and removing it when dry. Whatever may be said of the artistic qualities of a print so treated, it is undoubtedly a fact that for some classes of negatives, such as with small hand-camera shots or microscopical pictures, where detail is required to be shown as per- fectly as possible, this kind of paper treated in the man- ner described is undoubtedly superior to anything else.
The chief complaint among amateurs of gelatine papers is the difficulty" of mounting, and the remedy is simple. It is absolutely essential, if ease in manipula- tion and certainty in result are requiied, to prepare the prints by hardening them with alum or antipyr. This insures the print leaving the glass plate after squeegee- ing, or it allows of the prints being dried between blot- ting boards or tri-Timed and mounted while still moist.
If any objection is raised to treating the prints with either of these substances, there is an alternative. Take the prints from the water, hang up to dry, and wet again when squeegeeing. It is a curious fact that a gelatine film is much harder when it has been wetted, allowed to dry, and wetted again. We have never known prints so treated to stick to the temporary sup- port when glazing.
A hardened gelatine print is very much easier to inount, for the reason that the stickiness sometimes not- iceable is prevented. In mounting dry gelatine prints do not be in a hurry to put the print on the mount This is a hint that is well worth considering. After applying the mountant to the back you will notice the print begins to curl. Keep it from curling so much that the mountant gets on the surface. Hold it down and wait a few seconds. There is no hurry. When the print lies flat of its own accord, then it can be mounted with the greatest ease. There will be no curling, and the edges will lie flat and stop thexe,^ Photographer's Record,
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Camera Obscarsu
Sir John Henchel and the Early HiBtory of Photosfraphy^ by George E* Brown, F.LC*
Sir William Herschel, the father of the Sir John Her- schel, to whom, as students of photography know, tbe nascent art-science oweH many important discoveries, was a most brilliant man. He landed in England in 1757. a deserter from the band of the Hanoverian Guards, in possession of a French crown piece and a more than ordinary skill on the hautboy and violin. How he led an obscure life for three years; how, in 1760, he astonished the officers of the Durham Militia by his playing, his perfect English, and his stock of varied knowledge; how, by an ingenious artifice, he secured the post of organist at Halifax; and how, when he went to Bath in 1766, he rapidly rose to the crest of the wave of public favor in that then fashionable city, all this makes an interesting story, but the eventful period of William Herschel's life came afterwards.
A musical career had not a predominant attraction for him. He had, it is true, during these first thirty-five years of his life, studied sciences, languages, and what- ever knowledge he considered necessary to his musical profession, with the result that he found himself in a greater world than he had dreamed of when a Hano- verian bandsman and, when he happened on astronomy, he resolved to "see with his own eyes all that other men had seen before."
So about 1 770 he commenced a kind of JekjMl-and-Hyde life. The vision of the skies became the one theme of every moment he could snatch from his musical duties. He hurried from the concert room to polish his speculae and back from his workshop to the orchestra. For over ten years he followed these two occupations until, through a series of fortunate accidents, he attracted the attention of the King, and in 1789 became astronomer to the court of George III. When he was 50 (this was six years later) he married a wealthy widow, the only daughter of a City merchant. "Astronomers," says a gossip of the time, "are as able as other men to dis- cern that gold can glitter as well as stars."
His son, John Frederick William, the subject of these notes was born in 1792. His father wanted him to enter the church, but his natural inclinations and brilliant career at college marked him out for a scientific career.
Physics and chemistry were his favorite studies and he would have done much more work in them had not he considered it a filial duty to continue the astronomi- cal labors of his father. Sir William was the founder of
sidereal astronomy. As one of his biographers has said: "He organized the science and set it going; he laid down the principles for its future action; he accumulated materials for its generalizations and gave examples of how best to use them " So until 1S38 Sir John devoted him- self to completing his father's observations in all parts of the globe and afterwards to publishing the collected material. But he constantly swerved into mathematics, physics, and chemistry, for science then had not become so specialized but that one man could follow more than one branch of it. Moreover Herschel was no dry-as- dust philosopher. Like Davy he was a poet and had a poet's sympathetic nature. His books for the non- scientific person gained him a wide circle of readers and great popularity as an interpieter of scienb'fic discovery.
The first scientific paper of Herschel's which possesses photographic interest was written some twenty years before that pregnant period when he, Talbot, and Daguerre gave separately to the world distinct photo- graphic processes. It is entitled ** On the Hyposulphur- ous Acid and its Compounds" and was communicated to the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal in 1819. In this paper are described the properties and preparation of what Herschel called hyposulphurous acid and of its salts. Photographers may perhaps conclude, that the use of the word "hyposulphite" here is authority for the retention of a terra which has frequently been explained to be a misnomer, now that subsequent re- search has brought to light a compound H,SO, which is the body to which this name must be applied. Her- schel's hyposulphurous acid has been shown to be sulphuric acid with one of its atoms of oxygen re- placed by sulphur. It is therefore rightly called, thiosulphuric acid — " thio " denoting replacement of oxygen by sulphur. The real sodium hyposulphite, it may be mentioned, is a developer of the latent image.
Herschel's paper on his " hyposulphites" would have little interest were not the solvent action of these salts on the silver haloids (/>. on silver bromide, chloride, and iodide) therein described. But this is done very pre- cisely. He says: "Muriate of silver, newly precipi- tated, dissolves in this salt, when in a somewhat con- centrated solution, in large quantity and almost as readily as sugar in water."
But what is more interesting still is that he goes on to describe the different "hyposulphites" of silver pro- duced, according to whether the hyposulphite or the silver salt is in excess. In the one case, a clear solution is obtained containing soluble hyposulphite, in the other an unstable salt is thrown down which
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547
By Moreno.
rapidly changes in color from white to black and eventually subsides as a black precipitate. And so Herschel, it is clear, pointed out, what photographers have been particularly blind to for many years past ; that you must use a considerable excess of fixing salt to convert the silver bromide or chloride into soluble hyposulphite. He also showed that the latter reaction —excess of silver salt on hyposulphite— constituted a most delicate test for this substance; so delicate that he calculated he could detect one part of hyposulphite to 97,800 parts of water.
In this same paper a curious fact is mentioned which may perhaps be unknown to many photographers who have made daily use of sodium thiosulphate for years past. It is that the solution loses its disagreeable metalic taste when silver chloride dissolves in it, and becomes intensely sweet.
The news of what Daguerre had succeeded in doing was the gossip of Europe, even before the method employed by him was described by Arago on August ig, 1839. Herschel naturally heard of it and immediately turned his attention to the solution of the same problem. On what date he succeeded cannot be stated, but he read a paper before the Royal Society on March 14, 1839. in which he describes a photographic process similar to that announced by Fox Talbot some three weeks previously,
except that Herschell fixed his prints with sodium thi- osulphite and Talbot used salt or potassium iodide. As this paper is short we may quote it fully from the Royal Society proceedings.
** Note on the Art of Photography, or the Application of the Chemical Rays of Light to the Purposes of Pictorial Representation," by Sir Jfohn F. W. Herschel, Bart.
The author slates that his attention was first called to the subject of M. Daguerre 's concealed photographic process by a note from Captain Beaufort dated the 22nd. of January last, at which time he was ignorant that it had been considered by Mr. Talbot or by anyone in this country. As an enigma to be solved a variety of pro- cesses at once presented themselves, of which the most promising are the following: (i) the so called deoxi- dizing power of the chemical rays in their action on recently precipitated chloride of silver ; (2) the instant and copious precipitation of a mixture of a solution of muriate of platina and lime water by solar light forming an insoluble compound which might afterwards be blackened by a variety of agents; (3) the reduction of gold in contact with deoxidizing agents, and (4) the decomposition of an argentic compound soluble in water, exposed to light in an atmosphere of peroxide of chlorine, either pure or diluted.
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Ovr Monthly Dig^
[DecemPRR
OLD MILL.
C /.. Baer.
Confining his attention, in the present notice, to the employment of chloride of silver, the author enquires into the methods by which the blackened traces can be preserved, which may be effected, he observes, by the application of any liquid capable of dissolving and wash- ing off the unchanged chloride but of leaving the reduced, or oxide of silver, untouched. These con- ditions are best fulfilled by the liquid hyposulphites. Pure water will fix the photograph by washing out the nitrate of silver, but the tint of the picture resulting is brick-red; but the black color may be restored by wash- ing it over with a weak solution of hyposulphite of ammonia.
The author found that paper impregnated with the chloride of silver was only slightly susceptible to the influence of light, but an accidental observation led him to the discovery of other salts of silver in which the acid being more volatile adheres to the base by a weak affinity, and which impart much gre.iter sensibility to the paper to which they are applied, such as the carbon- ate, nitrate, and the acetate. The nitrate requires to be perfectly neutral, for the least excess of acid lowers in a remarkable degree its susceptibility.
In the application of photographic processes to the copying of engravings or drawings, many precautions, and minute attentions to a number of apparently trivial but really important circumstances are required to ensure success. In the first transfers, both light and shadow, as well as right and left are the reverse of the original and to operate a second transfer, or by a double inversion to reproduce the original effect is a matter of infinitely greater difficulty and in which the author has only recently ascertained the cause of former failures
and the remedy to be applied
Twenty-three specimens of photographs made by Sir
John Herschel accompany this paper; one a sketch of his telescope at Slough, fixed from its image by a lens; the rest copies of engravings and drawings, some reversed or first transfers and others, second transfers or re-reversed pictures.
Sir John Herschel followed up these photographic experiments with some persistence. He did not publish anything further till February 20, i8^o, when he read a long paper to the Royal Society ''On the Chemical Action of the Solar Spectrum on Preparations of Silver and other Substances, both Metallic and Non-metalic, and on some Photographic Processes." In this we find him longing for nomenclature and accordingly describ- ing a picture in which the lights and shades are as in nature as a '* positive" and one in which they are reversed as a " negative," terms which have endured to this day.
In this paper he describes the action of mercuric chlo- ride on a print. He was searching for different fixing agents and does not appear to have linked the bleaching action of the mercuric salt with that of others such as copper and ferric chlorides. But he explains how to revive the bleached image by a solution of sodium thiosulphate and points out that the process furnishes a means of painting in mezzotint {i.e. of commencing on black paper and working in the lights) as also of secret writing and a variety of similar applications.
The way in which Herschel was led to take the first photographs on glass comes out in the course of this paper. He was experimenting with a view to finding to what extent organic matter was indispensable to the rapid discoloration of silver compounds and therefore naturally sought to support his sensitive salt on glass. He did this by mixing extremely w^eak solutions of salt and silver nitrate in a deep vessel at the bottom which lay (horizontally) a clean glass plate. After many days, the supernatant liquid was siphoned off. the last portions were withdrawn by a siphon of hemp-fibre and the glass allowed to dry. It was found that a film of pure silver chloride was left on the glass which, when moistened with silver nitrate, showed very considerable sensitive- ness to light. The real importance of the experiment — that of mounting the sensitive material on glass — does not appear to have occurred on Herschel, who concludes: '* This mode of coating glass with films of precipitated argentine or other compounds affords, it may be ol>- served, the only effectual means of studying their habitudes on exposure to light free from the powerful
and ever- varying influence of the size in paper **
In the concluding parts of this paper Herschel occupies himself with the action of the different parts of the solar spectrum on silver salts and on natural coloring mat- ters. He had encountered the phenomenon over which the earliest experimenters spent so much laborious in- vestigation with so little result, viz., the curious coincid- ence between the color of the light-affected salt and that of the part of the spectrum coloring it. This fact, which has been the inspiration of much work for the realiza- tion of a perfect process of direct heliochromy, had been noted by others, including Daguerre. Herschel's rela- tions to its investigation will be touched upon later.
In a paper read before the Royal Society, on June i6th, 1842, while he again says much of the action of the spectrum on coloring matters which appears to-day to
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Oar Monthly Digest
549
By Adolph Karl Ltnve.
possess but little interest, he adds some most important notes on some metalic compounds which he has found *' photographically impressible." He found that ferro- sesqui cyannret of potassium, a compound just then newly prepared by Gmelin, which is familiar to every photographer to-day as potassium ferricyanide, became sensitive to light when spread upon paper, and after long exposure gave an image in Prussian blue. Then he found that when the ferricyanide solution contained an iron salt that the decomposition took place much more rapidly, because, as he noticed, the latter combination was sensitive to the whole spectrum whilst the ferri- cyanide alone showed sensitiveness only in the blue and violet portions. He used as ferric salt, first ferric chloride and then ferric ammonium citrate. The latter gave him a mixture which, applied to paper, gave positive prints in Prussian blue. Then he separated the two materials and found that a paper coated with ferric ammonium citrate owes its sensitiveness to light to the deoxidation (reduction) of the ferric salt to the ferrous state . This he ascertained by using as a test for ferrous salt a solution of chloride of gold, which he knew would be reduced to the metallic state by it. The result of this test led him to devise the process which he named Chrysotype, the similarity of which to the modern platinotype is very close in theory however far away it may be in practice.
Herschel did an immense amount of work on the photo- chemical decompositions of these iron and cyan- ogen compounds, and the student of the subject will find his original memoirs full of suggestions for new pro-
Thus he experimented much with mercuric salts in devising a process for using them in his cyanotype pro- cess. He discovered that an ordinary blue print placed in a solution of mercurous nitrate gradually bleached. The paper having been dried, the picture can be restored by passing a smooth hot iron over it when it reappears, not blue but brown, only to fade again after a few weeks.
Herschel's experiments in direct heliochromy, to which reference has been made, showed that when a bright spectrum was thrown upon paper coated with chloride of silver, various colors were produced. This had been done before by See beck of Jena, but, according to Hunt, Herschel succeeded in obtaining colors that very closely approximated to those of the spectrum itself. He found that when washed in water some degree of permanence was obtained, and, also, that the colors deepened on the paper being kept for some days in the dark. His work was followed by that of Hunt, Becquerel, and others, but it cannot be said that at the present time much has been added to our knowledge of this subject.
To summarize: Herschel gave us thiosulphate fixation. He independently discovered a process almost exactly similar to that devised by Talbot some five years pre- viously. He was the first to use the terms "positive" and *• negative," and to obtain a photograph on glass, and he led the way in research on printing processes in silver and other salts. The ferro-prussiate process of to-day is practically identical wich the process described by Herschel.
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Oar Monthly Digest
[December
The PhotosT&fxu — November*
This is an unusually interesting number containing many valuable articles. Among others is the following list of stain removers for lantern slides, etc.
1. Acid Alum.— Ordinary or chrome alum, 1 part; water, 20 parts. Add to this hydrochloric acid, 3 to 5 drops per ounce (6 to 10 c.cs. per litre), or citric acid, 10 to 20 grains per ounce (24 to 50 grms. per litre).
2. Acid-Iron Alum. — Alum, i part; sulphate of iron, 3 parts ; citric acid, i part ; water, 20 parts.
3. Potassium Persulphate (Anthion), — Use \ per cent, solution for five minutes, rinse, and repeat.
4. Thiocarbamide. — Thiocarbamide, 10 grains (5 grms.) ; citric acid, 'o grains (15 grms.) ; chrome alum, 30 grains (15 grms.) ; water, 4 ounces (3,000 c.cs.).
5. Thiosinamin. — Thiosinamin. 8 grains (18 grms.); citric acid, 4 grains (9 grms.); water, i ounce (1,000 c.cs.).
6. Potassium Iodide and Hypo.— Hypo bath (1 in 4), to which is added i per cent. (^% grains per ounce or 10 grms. per litre) of potass, iodide. Acts slowly.
7. Labarraqur's Solution.— Chloride of lime, i part; carbonate of soda, 2 parts ; water, 20 parts. Dissolve the lime in 15 parts, the soda in remainder ; mix. stir, and filter. Powerful stain remover. Attacks negative in time.
8. Hydroquinone Stains. — Infrequent, but difficult to remove, (i) Make weak Farmer's reducer (see Fig- ures. Facts, etc.. No. X. i). and apply to dry stained negative with cotton-wool. (2) Bleach in 2 per cent, solution of potass, bichromate containing i per cent, hydrochloric acid ; wash and redevelop with ortol.metol, or other clean developer.
9. Gold Sulpuocyanidk.— Yellow stained pyro nega- tives can be toned to blue or black in : gold chloride, 2% grains (6 grms.) ; ammonium sulphocyanide, 35 grains (8 grms.) ; water. 10 ounces (1,000 c.cs.).
10. Salt and Nitric Acid (Bolton).— A weak solu- tion f»f salt (about 10 grains per ounce = 20 grms. per litre), to which a few drops of nitric acid are added, makes an excellent cleaning bath, especially for lantern slides.
11. Hypo and Glycerine.— Add an equal volume of glycerine to a strong solution of hypo (i iu 4), and apply to the (dry) stained negative. Stand aside from dust, and renew if necessary.
12. By Re-Development.— Bleach in potass, bichro- mate, 15 grains (3*5 grms.) ; hydrochloric acid, 5 minims (10 c.cs.) ; potass bromide, 5 grains (12 grms.) ; water, i ounce (1,000 c.cs.). Wash and re-develop in clean solu- tion.
13. Yellow Sfain can sometimes be improved by staining the plate in weak blue aniline dye. Green stain thus produced is less objectionable.
14. Ferricyanide Stains (Farmer's reducer).— Am- monium sulphocyanide. 5 grains (12 grms.); water, i ounce (f,ooo c.cs.) ; or, alum, 4 grains (9 grms,) ; nitric
acid. 304 minims (6 to 8 c.cs.); water, i ounce (j,ooo c.cs); or. 10 per cent solution of sodium sulphite.
15. On P.O. p. wet with coiton-wool soaked in strong potass cyanide solution, and wash
16. Silver Stains.— (i) Place for ten minutes in potass, iodide solution (20 grains per ounce = 45 grms. per litre). Wash and transfer to potass, cyanide solution (30 grains per ounce = 70 grms. per litre), rubbing with cot- ton-wool Old stains require longer treatment and stronger solution than above. Iodine solution (in potass, iodide) of deep brown color can be used in place of potass, iodide in above formula, but is more risky. (2) A re- commended formula is : (A) Ammonium sulphocyanide, 30 grains per ounce (70 grms.); water, i ounce (1,000 CCS.). {B) Nitric acid, 30 minims (60 c.cs.); water, i ounce (1,000 c cs.). Mix {A) and {B)^ wash plate after- wards, place in chrome alum, and again wash.
17. Ink Stains.— Try saturated solution of quadrox- alate of potash, or, after aluming the negative, a strong solution of oxalic acid. For other stain removers see previous formulae.
Gtmera Obsctira — October.
Intensification with Mefcury— Some Possible and Little Used Methods, by Chapman Jones.
In all methods of intensification with mercuric chlor- ide, the silver image is first bleached with the formation of silver mercurous chloride, and the white image is then treated with some reagent which, by acting on the white compound, leaves a dark colored or black substance of useful opacity. It is in the second part of the reaction that the variety of method exists. In the last volume we considered the action of ferrous oxalate, ammonia, and silver potassium cyanide, the three reagents most generally used.
The Action of Sodium Sulphile.^The chemical changes produced by this reagent are far from being so simple as might at first be supposed. The primary change, certainly, g^ves one half of the silver and a fourth part of the mercury of the silver mercurous chloride in the metallic state as residue to form the image, the remainder of the metals being dissolved. The change is most simply represented thus:
4AgHgCl, = Ag, + Hg + 2AgCl + 3Hga,.
The chlorides of silver and mercury as products are con- verted into sulphites by the sodium sulphite and dis- solved as double sulphites; the mercury as mercuric sodium sulphite and the silver sulphite, apparently, in combination with about seven molecules of the sodium salt to each molecule.
This is the primary change, but there are distinct secondary changes that interfere with the regularity of the reaction, (i) The solution of the silver chloride by its conversion into sulphite follows, or at least partly follows, the separation of the metals; if therefore the action of the sulphite of soda is curtailed, a little silver chloride will be left \\'ith the metals. (2) If the solution containing the double sulphite of silver and mercury is allowed to remain in contact with the metals, the metallic mercury partly dissolves and
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Copyright, 1898, by W. G. Gppenheim.
/•**-J
Copyright, 1898, by W. G. Oppenheim.
ANGLING IS LIKE THE VIRTUE OP HUMILITY—IT IS INNOCENT.— ^'OO^^ Walton.
By Iff//, G<o. Oppenheim.
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Our Monthly Digest
[December
precipitates silver from the solution. Therefore a short treatment with sulphite tends to give abnormal density because some silver chloride is left in the image while a long treatment gives a retrograde action giving silver instead of mercury, and so far going back to the original image. These irregularities are fully confirmed by an examination of the effect of this method of intensifica- tion of the opacity of the negative. It is of the same character as the change produced by ammonia, and silver potassium cyanide, no appreciable change in the thinner parts and an increasing change as the density of the original increases, though even this description of the effect will not always apply.
The increase of density resulting from the action of sodium sulphite after mercuric chloride is never more than slight, and sometimes nothing at all. Indeed it seems not improbable that the increase, where it does exist, is due to the silver chloride not being completely removed rather than to the primary reaction, for it is diffi cult to understand why the replacement of half the silver of the original image by less than an equal weight of mer. cury should give any increase of density at all. And this supposition is born out by the effect of repeating the treatment of mercury chloride and sodium sulphite on the ^ame plate. The slight intensification effect produced by one treatment is lost by the second, and further repetition of the treatment gives a thinner and thinner image. To sum up, therefore, sodium sulphite, while it certainly is a ** clean " work ing reagent, gives an uncertain and irregular effect and an image that probably always consists partly of silver chloride, and will therefore be almost certain to change on exposure to light.
Action of Sodium Thiosulphate. — This reagent has sometimes been suggested as a follower to mercuric chloride. It differs from sodium sulphite in its effect in two or three ways. Two- thirds of the silver is re placed by mercury instead of only the half. The action may be simply expressed thus:
SHgAgCl, = Ag + Hg + 2AgCl + 2HgCl,.
The chlorides are pf course changed into the soluble double thiosulphates. As with sodium sulphite, the metallic mercury in the residue tends to displace silver from the solution, but in this case the action appears to take place much more readily than in the other. It pro- duces a marked effect even while the primary change is going on. The silver precipitated by the mercury in the presence of the thiosulphate is generally less than the dissolved mercury is able to precipitate, probably because of the energetic solvent action that the thiosul- phate has on metallic silver in the presence of air. With the sulphite the silver is in excess, doubtless because of the decomposition of silver sulphite when in solution into sulphuric acid and metallic silver. Sodium thiosul- phite therefore gives an uncertain and irregular result, its action is not simple, and it is impossible to regulate the changes that take place to produce a predeter- mined result.
Action of Potassium Cyanide^ Ammonium Chloride, and Potassium Chloride — So far as we are aware none of these reagents have been recommended for practical use in intensification. They give the same division of the metals between the residue and the solution as sodium
thiosulphate, shown in the last equation above. Am- monium chloride and potassium chloride act but slightly in the cold though readily enough when warmed, they therefore are useless in practical intensification. Am- monium chloride has been recommended as an addition to the mercuric chloride solution, it is obvious that it is better omitted. Potassium cyanide acts readily in the cold and doubtless would have been recommended for practical use, but that the solvent action in the presence of air, that can be traced in the case of sodium thiosul- phate, is so disastrously great in the case of the cyanide that the negative would thereby be rendered useless. The sulphite and thiosulphate, as we have shown, give very little intensification effect, and that little probably by reason of secondary changes; but the small effect that the cyanide would similarly give is more than compensated for by its solvent action on the metals, so that the practical result of its use is a reduction or thinning of the image and not intensification.
Caustic Soda blackens silver mercurous chloride, pro- ducing mercurous oxide and silver oxide. The change is rapid at first and then become so slow that even after a prolonged action the chlorine that remains may be sufficient to form silver chloride with half the silver present.
Sodium Carbonate gives an olive green color and finally a slate color with silver mercurous chloride, act- ing in a manner similar to caustic soda, but a considera- ble quantity of mercury is dissolved. These alkalies are obviously exceedingly unfit for use in practical intensi- fication.
We therefore close as we began by stating that fer- rous oxalate is the only reagent that can be used with confidence as a follower to mercuric chloride, it is the only reagent that gives a simple and definite result, the only practical reagent that does not falsify the gradation, and the only reagent that g^ves an optical result that can be foretold or a result from which the nature of the negative before intensification can be calculated.
PhotosT&phy. — October 25.
Mounts and Frames^ by J* C S. Mtsmmery.
An ^Instftiction lecture '^ delivered before the North Middlesex Photographic Society on October )5tiu
We may say that our pictures must be mounted and framed (i) for protection, and (2) for the purpose of isolating the picture from all surroimding objects, which might otherwise tend to distract the attention.
Beyond this, mounts and frames give an oppor- tunity of strengthening or subduing the color of the print, by the introduction of color— or raising or lowering the key, by the introduction of frames of. black or white— of giving importance to small work, and of altering the proportion or shape of a picture, or, possibly, of adding interest to the whole as a decorative object for one's walls.
We will try to take these points seriatim, and con- sider each one, beginning at the practical one of protec- tion, and for this it is necessary not only to mount and frame all pictures on paper in order to keep them flat; we must also glaze them to keep out dirt and moisture.
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Karl Pietnner.
On Glazing.
Glazing is rarely an advantage to any picture with a smooth or un worked surface, but it often helps water colors and drawings by obscuring to a certain extent the methods employed in their manufacture. In that case it is a material help. Glass necessarily introduces re- flections, and even the best glass spreads a general tint over the whole picture, and also cuts down the light reflected from the picture.
This may, of course, sometimes be taken advantage of of where there is excess of contrast, and it may upon oc- casion be desirable to have even two thicknesses of glass,- or glass with a strong tint, but most photographs now- adays are so low toned as not to require any artificial lowering.
[Mr. Mummery here passed round one of his photo- graphs, over which he had placed in one portion one thickness of glass and in another portion two thicknesses. These, he said, were cut from the glass of a frame made for him by a good framemaker, and although they were
not the best white glass, they were no worse than one might expect often to meet. He drew attention to the effect produced.]
If you are not aware of the result produced by glass, you may sometimes wonder why a print looked so much better and brighter before framing.
I want you to note—(i) the degradation caused by the color of the glass, and (2) the amount of reflected light (equivalent to brilliancy) lost where the picture is glazed.
If it is desirable to keep the picture from the air the glass should be fastened on with a narrow strip of paper glued on to the glass and rebate. This will doubtless tend to preserve fugitive prints, and will prevent dust getting in. The whole of the back of the frame should have a stout brown paper glued over it, and the deal backboard should not be allowed to come into contact with the picture.
Thr Isolation of thk Pictures.
I cannot, I fear, demonstrate this to you, but what we
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require of a frame is that it shall be sufficiently strong in character (not necessarily in size) to form a containing line beyond which the eye will not desire to travel. Simplicity is the most direct means of attaining this end, but is not the only means. The suggestion con- tained in the shape of a tablet, or an object the form or outline of which suggests to the mind some definite idea of enclosed space, is sufficient for the purpose; but, of course, for the purposes of isolation it must not be such as to concentrate too much attention upon itself. The mount acts in the same manner, but there simplicity should not be interfered with and whatever decoration is introduced should be severe in character.
Color, darkness or lightness, and surface, and size, and shape are the qualities we can consider in mounts and frames, and they all have a bearing upon the isola- tion of the picture.
Color is probably the point where there is the greatest room for failure and the greatest power of assistance. As far as I know, the only certain way in selecting the best color for a mount or a frame is by trial and error in the full size, but we may be guided in this selection. Por instance in
Monochrome Pictures it is generally safer to have a colored mount, and this in a harmony with the color of the print; that is to say, one or more of the com- ponent colors of the print running also through the mount, and forming its key . I do not, of course, wish you to infer that this is the only way to success, but it is a safe way, especially where the picture is tender in color or feeling. It is also to be borne in mind that as most of the colors used for mounts are not, as a rule, pure colors, but generally tertiary colors, this harmony will requite carefully looking for and adjusting, or perhaps the feeling that something is wrong may exist without one's being able to detect the cause.
Strong and bold productions may be treated success- fully in contrasts of color, but there is always a danger in this of reducing the apparent size of the picture and shaping it up too much.
The General Effkct of a Mass of Color in the mount is to depreciate the same color in the print, and to accentuate the complementary color. For instance, a mass of red next a warm colored print will tend to lower its redness, and introduce a greenish tint into the print, and that you may see to what a remarkable extent this effect exists I show you two pieces of gray paper mounted side by side under blue and red mounts. I have formed a division, so that the two can be seen by separate eyes at the same time, and you will notice that even by this light the paper in the blue mount is dis- tinctly yellow, whilst that in the red mount becomes a bluish green.
[This is an experiment anyone can try for himself. Let him take a piece of white or, preferably, g^ay mounting board, and mount over half of it wnth a piece of blue paper, and over the other a piece of orange paper. Hold- ing a piece of card at right angles to this as a division, and looking with one eye at the patch of gray surrounded by red, and with the other at the gray surrounded by blue, the extraordinary influence of the surrounding color will be very striking. The two patches of gray appear totally different, although known to be the same J
Of course such vivid hues as these are rarely used, but a proportionately similar effect exists with more sub-
dued colors, many of which look quite harmless until they are brought into contact with the picture and the jarring note is struck.
In a similar manner masses of black and white have a very remarkable effect upon the lightness or darkness of of a picture. I show you here two mounts— one white, the other a blue black. The pieces of material mounted in the openings are absolutely identical. From observ- ing this illustration one can readily imagine what dif- ferences may be wrought in a picture by the amount of black or white placed against it. This knowledge may often be turned to account, as, for instance, say, one has a snow picture. The whiteness may be much accen- tuated by darkening the mount, whereas a white mount in contact with the snow may make it appear quite dirty and dull.
On the other hand, if you have a print a trifle too light, you may render it apparently stronger by lightening the mount.
In speaking of black and white, I do not wish to sug- gest the use of either, but merely use the terms to ex- press the darkness or lightness of the mount. Probably very few prints will stand either black or white in any mass without some modifying influence, such as lines, etc. In colored drawings which are light, or in engrav- ings, white undoubtedly gives the best help to color and contrast respectively. White or black, or even crude color, may upon occasion be satisfactorily introduced into a mount in small quantities, such, for instance, as a nar- row line around the picture, which gives something by which to measure the scale of tones, and is yet insuffi- cient to have any injurious general effect; but it requires to be very judiciously used.
The texture or quality of the surface g^ves a power of contrast. If you desire to cause a highly surfaced print to look more glossy (heaven forbid you should), but if
By Robert S. Red/ield.
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By
Peter Wol/bauer.
you wish to do such a thing, contrast it with a rough mount, or if you wish to make a rough print look rougher, use a smooth mount. Highly polished mounts, such as gold, are not as a rule desirable, because the light re- flected from the surface varies so much with the angle of view and incidence of light, the mount appeanng black in one position and white in another.
Generally speaking, we may say of mounts that for a vignetted picture it will be better if the mount is formed by the paper upon which the print is made. With other pictures, we may either place the print upon the mount or use a cut-out mount; the latter is, perhaps, the stronger method, and will be better where a frame of some pre- tensions is used.
With regard to Plain Mounts
very much may be done with lines in pencil, color or gold, such as is commonly adopted by foreign artists in mounting water colors. Excellent examples have been seen in London photographic exhibitions recently. With a cut-out mount simplicity of outline must not be
tampered with. No cutting to fancy shapes can be tolerated, and even the circle and ellipse are not often satisfactory.
In both mounts and frames the proportions are of the utmost importance, and, of course, must be directly suited to the particular object in question. It is most desirable, if you wish to have a picture look its ]>est, that these proportions, together with the colors, should be carefully studied and planned out, and not left to the taste, or want of taste, of the framer and gilder. The only way m which any idea can be obtained beforehand is to draw the mount and frame upon paper of ap- proximately the required color. This always gives far greater satisfaction than the haphazard selection at a shop from small samples, which look quite different when in mass.
As regards the widths of mounts and frames, for each individual picture there is a best and worst proportion, and numberless grades of proportion between these two, and if you wish to obtain the best you must experiment with judgment and tiiste; it is only by seemg something
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Vt5. 'i
WINTKfl. L. r. Kupper.
and feeling its defects that improvement can be obtained and the happiest result hit off.
Apart from any other considerations, a proportion of two to three, there or thereabouts, is supposed to be the most pleasing shape for landscape pictures, and is the proportion, perhaps, more often used in drawings than any other. It will be seen that most photographic sizes are already squarer than this, and the wider the mount, and frame the squarer the shape becomes. As a rule, shapes where the sides and ends are nearly of the same length are to be avoided. On the other hand, a small picture, irrespective of shape, requires a proportionately wider mount and frame, if for no other purpose than to keep it from being dwarfed by proximity to larger work.
In designing mounts, it is always desirable to avoid making the width of the mount equal to the wudthof the picture, and most mounts will be found to work best from very narrow up to two-thirds of the width; after that, the division becomes too formal, until the mount becomes very considerably wider than the print. But mounts of such very great width generally
Tend to Lessen the Apparent Size of the picture besides bordering on affectation. A mount of exactly half the width of the picture suffers likewise from a too* formal distribution of parts. Beyond these, it is hardly desirable to formulate rules as to width of mount.
If practicable, I think it best, and least conspicuous, to have the frame and mount equal in width at the sides and top. and it is customary to allow a little more mount at the bottom; but, if the picture to be framed would lose its proportions, it may sometimes be desirable togfive a little greater width at the ends, or as required. This cannot, of course, be done with wooden mounts or close forming. It is, however, I think, a desirable thing not to use mounts of greater width than is necessary This is a matter of considerable importance in exhibitions of paint-
ings, where, for obvious reasons, wide mounts are not encouraged. Works of large subjects or of tolerable size are, as a rule, tho.se which may, with good effect, be framed close, but it is, of course, purely a matter of taste.
Practically the same conditions apply to frames as to mounts, excepting that it is best to err on the side of too much strength in frames, especially if for exhibition pur- poses, where they may be hung amongst strange mix- tures. In designing or selecting moulded frames, it will generally be found that mouldings having broad and simple faces, set off by finer lines of light and shade at their margins, or at intervals, are far more effective than when the moulding is all over alike.
The Manufacturer of Stock Mouldings is not imbued with any ideas about simplicity. He caters for the public, which loves the bizarre, and works in as many mouldings and as much ornament as the width will allow; it does not cost him any more money, and is much easier for the framer to join neatly. But do not be beguiled by these gaudy mouldings; be careful in selection to err always on the side of simplicity in light and shade.
Framing is very largely a Fashion, The time was when raw reeded oak was predominant, then there came the sawn wood and decorated jezzo, then the sombre and funereal frame of immense width and projection. Now there is a falling off in size, and very minute frames and wide mounts are de rigueur, and apparently, next year the frame will have vanished and left only a small margin of brown paper glued round the edges of the glass. I can recommend this to you as an extremely economical method of framing. The American invasion of this year, with its very distinctive work, is likely to have a considerable influence upon our English ideas of treatment of figure subjects, and also upon our ideas of mounting, and you will do well to visit the exhibitions at 66 Russell Square, the Salon, and the Royal, and study the extremely simple and satisfactory style of mounting which seems customary amongst these workers. It is original, and as such is doubtless draw- ing the wrath and jeers of the critics, but they will soon get used to it. 1 would not suggest that you copy blindly this method of mounting, because it is un- doubtedly unsuitable to the general style in which we are in the habit of working, but it has many suggestions. However, eccentricity in framing is best avoided, if you wish to have your picture hung at exhibitions. Any- thing abnormal in color, size, or shape, unless redeemed by striking qualities, is against a pictures in the eye of hanging committees and the like who have to consider general appearances first.
There are one or two hints about frames in general which may not be out of place here - in choosing or de- signing a frame, avoid, if possible, a moulding with a plain edge.
Avoiding having a frame shiny, and at the same time do not have it quite dull — just a little gloss such as may be obtained by a couple of coats of raw oil rubbed when dry with a piece of hnen. Do not have projecting back- boards or nails, or inner frames which project at the back. As the mount increases in size, diminish the width of the frame.
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ALMOST A TRAGEDY.
BY WILL A, DAHL.
Alone in the heart of the city^
On the street where the crowd rushes b/^ The crowd of the gay and the witty,
The crowd of the tear and the sigfh. Where the people are jamming and pushing.
Where the strong overpower the weak, Where men great and wealthy are rushing
Along with the lowly and meek. There he stands, like a statue of iron.
In front of a well known hoteL In demeanor as hold as a lion.
With the face of a demon of hell« He heeds not the tramp of the people—
They are taking no notice of him — As he stands in the shade of a steeple
With his hat pulled low at the brim. From under its lowering cover
At the door of this palace of wealth He looks* From one man to another
He glances with quickness and stealth* He is haggard and worn with waiting,
As a sot is after a spree. But still on his visage a hating
Grim smile of fiendish glee« His fingers are clutching convulsive
At a box that hangs by his side. As he gazes with features repulsive
At the doors, as they swing open wide* He hears a faint hum in the lobby.
Still nearer it comes. 'Mid the din And the noise, as the crowd in a body
Are cheering and yelling like sin. To action he comes. In an instant
Every muscle and fiber awakes. As tenderly though 'twere an infant
The box in his hands he takes; It opens, I catch the bright shimmer
Of high polished brass and steeL Through my body passes a tremor.
My knees are knocking, I feel That the hour has come for my taking;
That the incarnate devil there Has a bomb, and with vengeance wreaking
Will blow us all in air« Now he's holding the box up higher.
Great God! will it ever end ? I reel, my brain's afire,
I wait for the bomb's fierce rend* A minute seems almost an hour,
I open my eyes in fright. He has his machine aU open.
The darkness has turned to light* Now I plainly can see its construction
As it points at the entrance there ; As I look, with a feeling of unction
There comes a temptation to swear, A sigh of relief escapes me
As I look shamefaced at the ground* He h only a fiend with a kodak.
And Roosevelt's stopping in town*
Print in tlie Shade. — Now that we have such brilli- antly sunny weather there is a great temptation to many workers to hurry up their printing still more by putting the frames in the sun. The inferiority in prints so made over those produced in the shade is not so marked in wintertime, because the printing then — even in the brightest weather — takes a considerable time, and time is the essence of the matter. In such weather as we have had lately a print in platinum or carbon may be made in the shade in a few minutes from a negative of average density ; a dozen in a day from the same neg- ative should be quite a simple matter. There is, there- fore, no excuse, for still further hastening so rapid a process by putting the frames in the sun — a course which always gives inferior prints. There are several reasons for this. For one thing printing in sunshine al- ways has a tendency to reproduce upon the print any defects which may be present on the glass side of the negative. Printed in the shade these vignette them- selves away. In the same way, the softening effect up- on any handwork that there may be on the glass side, a softening which the skilful worker counts upon to con- ceal its presence, is lost by sun printing unless this takes a long while. In the case of silver prints the color of the image printed in the sun is quite different from that produced in the shade, and this difference of color is never got rid of in the ordinary toning process unless that process is pushed to the point of over-toning. The gradations in the sun-printed photograph are also not the same as those in one from the same negative printed in the shade. The sun-printed one is nearly always in- ferior. Over and above these defects, which are really unavoidable, there is one which can be prevented, it is true, but which is none the less a real one. We refer to the difficulty of properly controlling the depth to which the printing is to be carried when that operation is very rapid. It is easily controlled when the frames are in the shade, even if a number of them are exposed at once, but when the brilliant July sun that we have lately been having is pouring down upon a negative that is not un- duly dense, the time taken to get a print has to be judged to such a nicety that a few seconds one way or the other mean failure. Our advice, therefore, once more repeated, is— print in the shade. — Photography,
A New Scliool of Pliotograpliy has been opened in Munich, Bavaria. It goes by the name of Die Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt fiir Photographie zu Mlinchen. It is subsidized by the Bavarian government. In connec- tion with the School is a Library and Reading room containing a large number of the various photographic journals and books.
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Memational Congress of Photography
[December
R. Demachy.
THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY AT PARIS,
BY S. L. SHELDON.
THE International Congress of Pho- tography took place between the 23d and 28th of July, 1900, at the Paris Exposition. Although the congress consisted largely of Frenchmen, yet several other countries were represented; Germany by the famous lens maker P. Goerz ; Italy by P. Masoero, publisher of Photographo. The United States had five representatives : Messrs. Max and Edward Levy, of Philadel- phia ; Miss Frances B. Johnson, of Washington, representing the lady photographers of the United States ; Mr. Cameron, of Chicago, and Mr. S. L. Sheldon, of Ithaca, N. Y.
Thirteen questions had been propose4 ^^^ discussion in this congress, viz.:
1. Definition and measure of the sensibility of the plates in their conditions of use.
2. Photometry — Its practical study from the point of view of photography — Research of standards of colored lights and methods of comparison, guaging of color screens and of the pigmentary colors.
3. Characteristics and classification of optical glass.
4. Characteristics of the objectives; practical numbering of the diaphragms.
5. Studies and characteristics of the ob- structors of plates.
6. Precise classification from the point of view of the thickness of glass plates employed in photography.
7. Dimensions of cinematographic bands ; separation, rate and form of perforation — rate and size of images.
8. Expression of formulae and photographic denominations ; revision of the forms adopted in 1889 and 1891.
9 Proposal to adopt decimal classification for the photographic bibliography.
10. Protection of the ownership of photo- graphic works ; complete comparison of the photographic works to the graphic and artistic works.
11. Distinction between the rights of owner- ship and the rights of employ.
12. To express a vote in order that there may be in the different countries and by the side of the archives composed of written documents, depositories of photographic documentary archives, comprising all that which can be raised of interest by photography for the history of a region.
13. Some patents relative to photography in their statements, together with the data pre- viously known.
Among other things of interest that were
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discussed was a paper by Edward Levy, of Philadelphia, on his new acid blast for etch- ing photo engravings. M. Masoero, an Italian, gave a very interesting and humerous talk upon (i) The application of photography to the study of art; (2) Application of orthochroma- tism to portraits; while Miss Johnson, of Wash- ington, D. C, displayed some exceedingly fine photographic work done by the lady photog- raphers of the United States.
The congress opened in the Palace of Con- gresses July 23. Two sceances were held here on Monday, but during the remainder of the week they were held in the rooms of the French Photographic Society, 76 rue des Petits- Champs.
After the morning, session Tuesday, the Congress held an excursion to Chantilly to visit the Museum of Cond6. A special privilege was granted the Congress to photograph the various things of interest at this place. The evening was spent at the Photo Club.
The special feature of Wednesday was the conference of M. Wallon on " The French Pho- tography at the End of the Century."
Thursday, M. Lippman gave a conference upon his invention of photographing in natural colors by the interference method. He pro- jected upon the screen at the Sorbonne some very beautiful specimens of his work in this new field. There seems to be no reason why this method, after some investigation and per- fection, should not be of great practical value, especially to the lanternist.
Thursday evening occurred the banquet at the Grand Hotel. This was a very fine affair and was well attended. Mr. Jansseo, the presi- dent, acted as toastmaster and a very enjoy- able time was given to all.
On Friday occurred the boat ride on the river Seine to visit the observatory of Meudon, under the direction of M. Janssen. On return- ing a dinner was served at the Chatelet du Cycle in the Bois de Boulogne, while on reach- ing Paris at 1 1 p. m. we found the Exposition lighted up in all its beauty.
Saturday evening closed the events of the Congress proper by cinematographic projec- tions on a screen 300 metres square, also by projection of photographs in natural colors by the indirect method. The results were beauti- ful indeed and were produced by MM. A. and L. Lumifere.
Sunday morning the Congress proceeded to investigate the photographic exhibits in the
Palace of Education on the Champs de Mars. The exhibit was very large and was character- ized by the large exhibit of carbons, also by the large number of those small, costly, stereoscopic cameras of French make. There were also some especially fine glass transparencies of the moon one metre in diameter. The small cine- matographs for the use of amateurs were among the latest photographic devices.
THE LECTURE THAT WAS NOT DE- LIVERED*
M
BY DAVID B. TALMADGE.
ANY boys in Bedford had cameras, but only one had a photographic gallery all his own. His name was George Brown, and he was a rare spirit. From his closely cropped head to his bare feet he stood in Madford as a different sort of boy from the ordinary, and it is safe to assert that the men- tion of his name had caused the heads of more anxious parents to wag prophetically than any other one thing in the history of the town. The gallery was merely his latest idea— the follower of a train of ideas almost as long as the procession of days that had passed since he
A.J. Shaeffer.
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The Lecture That Was Not Delivered
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cast aside the dresses of infancy and waddled with trousers into boyhood.
It had originally been a hen-house, had the gallery ; even now the hens claimed it for their own, laying eggs surreptitiously among the dry plates, and roosting upon the back of the chair in which " subjects '* sat for portraits. It was surrounded on three sides by a corn patch, but it had a good front on the alley, and it was not at all a bad location for a photographer of George Brown's capacity. He was excellently well satisfied with it.
" Of course," he said to his mother one day, when that long-suffering woman had yielded to his importunities and consented to " sit " for a portrait, "it's kind of manur}' gettin' here, but it's nice and quiet, and that's the way a gallery should be. Nobody ever has any trouble in lookin* pleasant when I take their picture. That's 'cause there ain't none of the bad sur- roundin's that make folks nervous, like there is in big galleries." *
This was essentially true. The person who could "sit" in that stiff-backed chair while George Brown pointed his cheap little camera at him with all the flourish imaginable, must have been totally lacking in a sense of humor to have looked otherwise than pleasant. Still, there was the consciousness of risk in the average " sitter's " mind, and this served some- what to curb the risibilities, which otherwise might easily have passed beyond control, and offended mortally the operator. There was never any guarantee that the portrait would not be what -is usually termed a "freak," for George Brown's camera was subject to fits, and as liable to produce a distorted image as any- thing else, in which respect it differed not materially from others of its kind.
"Now, Georgie," said Mrs. Brown, as she took her position in the chair and looked dubiously at the camera, " c^o be careful. That picture you made of father was awful ; it gave me a regular sinking of the heart to look at it ; it was so — so — like a mummy. It seems almost like sacrilege to take such pictures as that."
George, not having the slightest idea what sacrilege meant, the word not being in the book of instructions accompanying his camera, grunted reassuringly. "O, that's all right,' mother," he said; "father's picture would 'nt have looked as it did if he hadn't tried to brush a fly off his nose with his mustache just when I exposed the plate. You see, there isn't no danger of your doing that You'll look good in
a picture, 'cause you look good anywhere. Now, all ready."
Mrs. Brown hastily composed her features, and George pressed the spring.
" There, it's over now," he said ; " there's a cuspidor at the right — ."
He hesitated, looking foolishly at his mother. "I forget sometimes," he explained. "I was in the dentist business before I went into this, you know."
His mother knew only too well. The words of the irate mother of a toothless child still rang in her ears, and she bowed her head to hide the smile that she felt to be dangerously near the surface.
"Yes, dear," she said. "I wonder that you do not become more confused than you do. You have so many irons in the fire that you cannot take care of them all."
" O," said George, " the dentist iron is all cold now. I'm glad it is, too, for I didn't like the business very well."
Then he bowed the lady out, and proceeded to the " development " of the plate. And a most " freakish " plate it turned out to be. George admitted to himself — though the ad- mission pained him somewhat — that it was the worst plate he ever saw, and he had seen some pretty bad ones, too. The portrait was barely recognizable as Mrs. Brown. It more nearly resembled the reflection of some lantern-jawed, pinched, shriveled individual in a cheap mir- ror. His first impulse was to smash it. But on second thought he put it away, undried, in a box with other "failures," and went out rather dejectedly to join Bobbie Rich, who at that moment was meandering down the alley with a fishpole over his shoulder and a can of worms in his hand.
" I believe I'll go," he said, after considering an invitation to go down the creek. " I ain't feelin' very good, and maybe 'twill liven me up." So he got his pole and joined the mean- dering Bobbie, leaving the door of the gallery open.
How it happened is not definitely known, but there is a theory, more or less substantiated by fact, that a particularly muscular hen entered the gallery during the owner's abs- ence, and scratched the box of plates on to the floor and out of the door. At any rate, Willie Fox, who chanced to pass through the alley that day, said that, as he hoped to have pudding for dinner the next Sunday — which was much
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YOUNO OWL.
Dr. R. ly. Shu/eldt,
RECENT PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIES.
BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT.
I N reviewing my work in pho- tography for the past year, I find that the subjects for my camera have been of a very varied class indeed, for the list in- cludes not only a great many living form s — as mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and in- sects, taken indoors and out — but like- wise special studies in shells, birds' eggs, a large number of female nudes, and still-life subjects — as vases, cameo-works, copies of art pictures, osteological specimens, and some few fabrics.
Ver>" naturally, in such a series of studies selected from fields so widely different in kind, one's experience, too, as a consequence, would necessarily be more or less extensive and diver- sified. This has been the case, and it is my object here to offer to my fellow-workers in zoological and artistic photography some of the difficulties I have had to contend with, and what success I have met with in my endeavors to overcome them.
My methods of making photographic pictures of such living subjects as mammals, birds, and fish, and other animal forms, both in the studio as well as out in the open air, in the very haunts where these various creatures live in nature, have been fully described and dwelt upon in the series of articles published for me on these topics in The Photographic Times during the past two years, so that these exper- iences need not occupy our space in the present connection. Then, too, the plan I adopt in making scientific photographs of shells I have also described, and that contribution appeared in the same excellent journal in its issue for June, 1900.
It was the late and greatly lamented Gleeson White who invited attention to the proper kind of backgrounds to be used in many photo- graphs of the undraped human figure. It occurs in his truly classical paper on **The Nude in Photography," which appeared in The Photographic Times for May, 1897 (pp. 209-220). This finished and chaste contribu- tion to the subject of which it treats is, in my estimation, a masterpiece, and I have read it over more than once with decided profit. In the matter of backgrounds, his experience agrees with what I have found to be the case since his time. He stated the case correctly when he wrote that, * * yet, as a rule for the nude, a light background serves to show the subtle modelling of the form to better advantage than when it is shown in sharp contrast upon a dark one" (p. 219). In not a few cases I have attempted to secure photographic studies of the undraped figure, for a series of pictures to be used by the students in a life class, using a perfectly black cambric curtain for a back-
no. 1. DR. SHUPCLDT IN HIS STUDY.
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Recent Photographic Studies
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no a. LIPC STUDY OP A CHILD
ground, and in every instance the result was far from satisfactory.
No one will question for an instant, how- ever, that by the employment of suitable back- grounds superb pictures of life models may be made; I have succeeded with thenl and so have a great many other artists.
Two beautiful illustrations of this are shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the present contribution, and these are not only well executed and as charming art studies as it is possible to obtain by the use of the camera, but they likewise speak volumes for the fitness of the child-sub- ject as a model. It has been said by many that either the semi-draped or undraped child never could pose for a model without showing such a degree of self -consciousness in the resulting pic- ture that the latter was completely spoiled by the effects thereof. Now, if there be the slightest evidence of self -consciousness in the features of this little girl, I am quite sure that I have failed to perceive it.
What we really need, though, in the secur- ing of the most useful and at the same time most attractive of photographic studies of the nude, is the open air, the outside atmosphere.
with all of its depth, and all of its warm, soft, and harmonizing effects. By far the most beautiful photographs I have ever made of this character have been taken in that way.
This, too, in so far as my reading informs me, has been the experience of every other photographer of the nude human figure. To appreciate this fact, one has but to see the splendid pictures of such men as Count Von Gloeden, Puyo, Henry A. Collins, Will A. Cadby, R. le Bdgue, Chas. I. Berg, and not a few others. So far as some of their work is concerned, it would be simply out of the ques- tion to accomplish it in the studio, although those taken, as I say, in the latter are by no means to be either ignored or despised. In fact, one has but to study the series of this class of studies that are offered by the well-known firm of Erdmann & Schanz, of London, to be convinced of this fact. Taken indoors or out, however, it must ever be remembrered that each and every result of this kind must exhibit distinctly certain well-pronounced features. These are, first, a definite aim, either in the direction of art or use, and better still, the two combined; secondly, they must be chaste, re- fined, and mirror nature in all particulars. ** If, with even no shadow of intention," as White said in his article, **the effect of the photo- graph can be distorted to unwholesome sug-
PIO. 9. Lire STUDY OP A CHILD
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no. 4. siiiDS' coos.
Negative by Dr. Shufeldt.
gestions, it is surely the duty every artist owes his art to sacrifice his own achievement, no matter how good its technique may be, rather than it should offend the canons of good taste."
Every one who has had any experience of this nature in the United States will bear me out in the statement that the two main diffi- culties we have to deal with in this field are, first, the ever-present false modesty of the American people as a whole; and secondly, the great rarity of educated models. It will be entirely different in a few generations more. Our descendants will be mores ensible.
Early in the spring of 1900, my attention was drawn to what were intended to be scien- tific photographs of birds' eggs, reproductions of which figured in the various ornithological magazines and journals in this and other coun- tries. I met with no good photographic studies of birds* eggs, taken with the view of exhibiting these objects as individual specimens, apart from any surroundings whatever. Many beau- tiful pictures were being published, however, of birds' nests with eggs in them ; or where certain species had laid upon the naked rock, sand, or ground ; or pictures of museum trays
with the eggs in them tucked round with cotton, and the like, but no figures of these objects pictured in the clear, as it were, and showing all their essential characters and the specimen or specimens of a natural size.
In scientific works devoted to oology, such figures are usually colored lithographs, from hand-made colored drawings, which last take much time and labor to produce. This leaves ample room for inaccuracies to creep in, such as incorrectness in size, form, or coloring, or special markings. Then again, when the draw- ings are transferred to stone more opportunity is offered for mistakes to be made. Now, the camera can obviate all these sources of error entirely and produce figures of birds* eggs fully worthy of the importance of the science they illustrate. It is likely, too, that by the employment of the three-color process they can be colored with the greatest amount of accuracy. As yet, I have not experimented in this direction. But in the matters of form, size, and pattern of peculiar markings, the time has passed for any further excuse in not re- producing these in the minutest detail and correct to a fault. The method by which I
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Recent Photographic Studies
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accomplish this is by no means new, though, strange to say, few scientific men seem to be aware of its apph'cation and use. I found lately several of my friends connected with The Smith- sonian Institution and New York Fish Commission who never had heard of it before. The process is extremely simple, though it requires great care and skill. It consists in fastening your specimens of eggs on short stalks of soft wax and then attaching them to a thin and perfect pane of glass of the size required. Parallel to this pane of glass, and about i8 inches back of it, is placed a large sheet of pure white **linty'* blotting-paper for a back- ground. The eggs are to be arranged on your plate of glass precisely as you desire them to afterwards appear in your work when printed. The details of your specimens prior to making an exposure must be studied with the greatest possible care upon the ground- glass of your camera. Here you must make absolutely sure that the extreme long axes of your specimens are precisely reflected upon the ground-glass, and this is only secured by causing these axes to be perpendicular to the focal-line of your lens. The tripod supporting the contrivance you have made to hold your specimens and backgrounds must be turned about till no reflections from the glass sup- porting the eggs appear to be thrown back into your camera to be photographed when the ex- posure is made. This is very important, for they show and mar your subsequent picture or pictures.
In Fig. 4 of the present contribution I present a plate of eggs prepared by me to exhibit not only the perfectly photographed egg, but also some of the errors the naturalist-photographer may commit, and which must be avoided. All of these eggs are taken exactly the size of nature, the upper one being of our common turkey buzzard (Cathartes aura), and the two lower ones of the pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba). They were all kindly loaned me by Mr. Edward Court from his private collection, to be used for the purpose to which I have put them. Now, the picture of the upper egg in the plate is absolutely perfect all to a slight reflection showing near its lower left-hand arc. The egg of the guillemot in the lower right- hand comer exhibits several errors to be cor-
mOHT LATERAL VICW OP THE SKULL OP AN AMERICAN PLAMINGO.
Dr. Shu/eidt,
rected. In the first place, it is tilted to one side and very slightly backwards; this mars the appearance of the plate and, what is worse, slightly foreshortens the specimen. It also shows a reflection onto the glass to which it is attached (upper left-hand arc) ; while, finally, the sun has been allowed to creep up on its background behind — a very serious oversight. All of the errors have been eliminated in the case of the specimen photographed in the lower left-hand comer of the plate. Its background is perfect and so are the shadows upon the egg itself. Its best side has been placed to the front, a thing the naturalist will surely not overlook in each and every case. It will stand the test of measurement iri all directions and diameters when compared with the original. So sharply has it been focused upon that the minutest structure of the egg-shell can be dis- tinctly studied in the photograph by means of a powerful hand lens.
Now, this method of attaching small objects of scientific material to glass, in order to do away with all shadoivs and surroundings in the resulting photographs, is applicable to any number of other kinds of objects, and even can be employed in the case of some living subjects. I have applied it to the taking of osteological specimens, for instance, such as all the bones of a disarticulated skeleton of a flamingo, skulls of foxes, and so on. The skull of the flamingo was excellent (as were all the other negatives), and I introduce it here in Fig. 5, in order to allow students of osteology to see how useful photography is
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THE PINC OATE.
By
W. C. Baker.
in such directions, or rather such students in science who have paid no special attention to these matters of illustration. In closing, I would say that by the use of a vertical camera this method is applicable to the taking of such subjects as cannot conveniently be attached to glass in the perpendicular position.
Fake Cinematograph Pictures.— This winter fake cinematograph pictures will probably become very pop- ular. Almost any impossible feats can be seen by the use of fake films, but in arranging, cutting up, and re- joining the negatives a tremendous amount of labor and skill is involved. A particularly good subject is one in which a man enters with a cornet in one hand and a chair in the other. He stands behind the chair, and by the act of waving his right hand causes several cbairs to range themselves towards that side ; whilst a similar movement of the left arm causes others to appear on the left hand. The man with the cornet then sits down on
the end chair, but immediately rises up and sits on the next chair, and so on throughout the line of chairs. Strange to say he leaves *• his double" on each chair. Here we have some eight or ten musicians, who stand up together and play on their comets. After a time they sit down and commencing at the end chairs the per- former gets up and sits on the knee of his next neigh- bor, with whom he immediately becomes merged. This is continued until the center chair contains the consoli- dated man with a row of empty chairs at either side. Finally, he stands up and waves the odd chairs away, and walks off the stage with his own. — The Optical Magic Lantern Journal,
The << American Annual of Photography" for 1901 is to hand, published by Scovill-Adams Co., New York. It is represented in London by Dawbarn & Ward, Ltd. It is excellently turned out, the illustrations being much superior in character to that which many American pub- lications give us, and the literary matter is of a sound, useful and practical kind— indeed, a most excellent book. — 7^/4^ Amateur P/totograp/ter {British).
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As announced elsewhere, we shall make sev- eral important changes and improvements in this magazine. The numerous complaints we have received of the unwieldliness of the pub- lication and the manner in which it was dam- aged during transmission through the mails has induced us to reduce its size to regular maga- zine dimensions. While the size will be re- duced the number of pages will be the same, although the number of these will be increased provided we receive your support and assist- ance. This you can easily do by recommend- ing The Photographic Times to those of your friends interested in photography. Perhaps to the subscriber, however, the most important change is in the reduction in price from four dollars to two, thus placing a high-class, artistic magazine within the reach of all.
Beginning with the January issue, Mr. Walter E. Woodbury, whom our readers will doubless remember as the editor of this magazine for nearly six years, will again take over the reins and many changes are contemplated.
Mr. Gear, in an interesting lecture on develop- ment, stated that in the case of an under exposed plate the common mistake was to continue development, to try and force out the image, but instead of this a developer having a quicker action should be used. For overexposed plates the development should be continued with a well restrained hydroquinone developer until fog is produced; then sodium citrate in a solu- tion of one grain to one drachm of water must be added minim by minim, and the increased contrast will result.
He contended that a flat negative produced either by incorrect exposure or by fog must first of all be reduced by means of potassium ferricyanide and hypo to give contrasts, and although the action goes on all over the surface
the reduction is more discernible in the shad ows. Then the negative is well washed and bleached with mercuric chloride solution, well washed again for fifteen minutes, and finally blackened with sodium sulphite. Hard nega- tives may be reduced with sodium persulphate, as it only takes effect on the deeper deposits of silver in the shadows. After sufficient reduc- tion has taken place the plate must be plunged into a solution of sodium sulphite to stop all further action and then refixed. This method is effective for removing halation
. The attention of our cousins across the pond has been considerably attracted by the exhibits of American makers, says the English A f^iafeur Photographer, " Next to Mr. Holland Day's big set of pictures, perhaps the most interesting section of work at the Russell Square American Show is that of Mrs. Gertrude Kasebier. She has thirty frames, all of which are more or less worthy of note. Viewed in the light of the fact that Mrs. Kasebier is actually a pro- fessional photographer, they must come as something of a shock to many visitors. Doubt- less, too, not a few folk harbor an inward wish that we had a few such * professionals ' on this side the pond.
" Incredible though it may appear, Mrs. Kase- bier makes her art pay. Can it be that New Yorkers are really more tasteful than London- ers, or is it a mere fad which has seized on the fancy of the city of multi-millionaires? We cannot say. Sufficient is it, that the said multi- millionaires do not hesitate to express their appreciation of Mrs. Kasebier's productions in a thoroughly practical and transatlantic man- ner. We believe we are correct in stating that twenty dollars for a single portrait is no ver>'^ unusual fee at Mrs. Kasebier 's studio. Yet, strange to say, this mysterious lady continues to have more work than she can tackle single-
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handed. Has the (photographic) millenium reached New York ?
*'Mrs. Kasebier received not long ago the highest price which has ever been paid for a single copy of a photograph. The picture in question was the portrait of Ellen Terry, taken during the eminent artiste's recent starring trip in the States. Ellen Terry was so pleased with the portrait — as indeed was everyone who saw it — that she cheerfully planked down a hundred-dollar bill for the privilege of calling it her own. jQ2o for one portrait print is enough to make our poor eighteen shillings-the dozen men green with envy. Later on, another copy of the picture was bought by a private admirer of Ellen Terry (or Mrs. Kasebier, or both), and he paid the same stiff price. This creates a record. But America always was a record-creating land ! "
Regarding the mounting of the American exhibits a correspondent to the same magazine writes : " It was both interesting and amusing the other evening to hear and compare the very varied opinions as to these exhibits. And not a little attention was given to the style of mounting. Opinions varied from * funereal,' * wretched,' up to ' charming,' * excellent,' * per- fect.' One could not help thinking of the old story to the effect that an Englishman must have a thing put before him thrice before he sees its points. At first he says, * No new-fan- gled ways for me. Take it away. Nothing in it.' The next time he says, * Rather interesting,' and the third he says, * Yes, of course — I knew it all the time. Didn't I tell you so long ago?'"
Mr. T. R. Dallmeyer in his Presidential Ad- dress before the Royal Photographic Society gives the following interesting record of the applications of photography at the present date:
Scientific and Semi-Scientific Applications OF Photography. Air streams, recording. Alloys, showing nature of. Animal movement, showing nature and
phases. Anthropology. Anthropometry.
Antiquities, coins, MS., etc., making records of. Astronomical research generally. Barometric observations. Bullets, registering flight of. Cardiac drugs, recording effects of.
Circulation of blood of foetus, showing.
Clouds, determining height of.
Composite portraiture, synthetic and analytic.
Crystals, mode of formation.
Drop, formation in splashing of.
Elements, contributions to the knowledge of.
Entomology.
Explosives, action of.
Geographical exploration.
Gun barrels, recording vibration of.
Invisible radiations, detecting
Invisible spectrum, exploring.
Lightning, registering (in day-time es- pecially. Litre, determination of the error of the. Map-making.
Metals, to show the effect of strain on. Metals, to show the texture of. Meteorology, many applications to. Metro-photography. Micrometry, a means of. Micro-photography, applications to. Military, various applications. Motion, analysis of.
Motion, reproducing effects in appearance of. Radiography in various applications. Refractive indices, determining. Retina, recording condition of. Solar and stellar physics, many applications, Sound, recalling effects of. Spectroscopy, in spectrum analysis. Stomach, exploring interior of. Sub-marine surveying. Sunshine recording.
Surveying or photogrammetry generally. Telegraphic messages, recording. Telegraphing designs. Telephotography. Temperature, recording. Vocal organs, showing condition of. Wood, showing internal structure of.
Photosraphins: by Light from Veous.— Dr. W. R.
Brooks, director of the Smith Observatory at Geneva, U. S. A.» has succeeded in photographing objects solely by light from the planet Venus. The experiments were conducted within the dome of the observatory, so that all outside light was excluded except that which came from Venus through the open shutter of the dome. The time was the darkest hour of the night, after the planet had arisen, and before the approach of dawn. The ac- tinic property of the light from Venus was much stronger than anticipated, the photographic plates being remark- ably clear, intense, and fully timed. The experiments will be continued every clear night. Dr. Brook's was an early worker in photography, and has used it for many years in his astronomical researches.
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Wide-angle lenses are often used for copying pur- poses for the reason that distances between the original and the lens and between the lens and the plate is less- ened, but it should not be forgotten that there is always a falling off in the illumination at the corners.
raent will also often help a print very much, hotter water being applied only to those parts of the print which require to be shown as high lights.— ii/^//£?«, in The Photographic News.
Carbon tissue* after it has been sensitized, may be kept for some time if store, in an air-tight tube contain- ing chloride of calcium. It will, however, become brit- tle and must be placed in a damp place for twenty or thirty minutes before using.
A photograph of a smartly dressed young woman, ac- cording to a contemporary, figured in a photographer's showcase. A lady stepped in and asked for a copy. The picture was that of her maid wearing her mistress's clothes. A smart lady's maid is now open for a new s i tuation . — Photography.
A test for hypo should be kept ready for use in the dark room as a check against insufficient washing after fixation. As the following keeps well in solution, it is perhaps the most convenient to use :
Potassium permang^anate 2 firrains
Polassium carbonate 20 (irrains
Water 40 ounces
A few drops of this solution are added to 20 ounces of the last washing water, in which the plates or prints have been allowed to soak for some minutes; if any hypo is present the rose-colored tint will change to a dirty greenish yellow. — Photography.
The Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. have been awarded the gold medal at the Paris Exposition for the best lenses, shutters, and photographic accessories of American manufacture. This award is quite a surprise to them, as they made no exhibit at the Exposition, the medal being awarded for the superior quality of the lenses, shutters, and other accesosries of the Bausch & I^omb Optical Co.'s manufacture used on the cameras exhibited by the various camera manufacturers.
Over-exposed Carbon Prints.— When developing carbon prints it is advisable to have two dishes contain- ing hot water. In the first dish have the water at normal temperature, with which development is commenced. If the print shows sig^s of over-expobure it should be plunged into the second dish, contaming water consider- ably hotter than is comfortable for the hands. By keep- ing up the temperature of the water, prints that are con- siderably over-exposed may be saved. Local dcvelop-
Harvard Camera Club Lecture.— Professor George Santayand spoke to the Club in the Fogg Art Museum Lecture Room, Nov. 14. He said in part :
Photography is a means of preserving and renewing visual images, just as writing is a means of renewing and preserving thoughts. Photography is an artificial extension of memory and what memory itself does for experience — enabling us to retain it ; photography may do for memory itself by helping us to refresh the mental images we have there, which naturally are always fad- ing away.
Photography also enables us to get visual ideas of many things we have never seen because they are at a distance ; and it will probably help men in the future to have correct visual images of things that will have dis- appeared from the world.
Photographs may be very beautiful if the objects they represent are beautiful or beautifully lighted and posed ; but photography has none of the func- tions of creative art. Creative art consists in an interpretation of things in relation to some moral interest ; it ought to transform or idealize its subject in many ways, so as to bring out its tend, ency or meaning. But photography, like memory, only transforms things unintentionally and because it cannot help itself. The cause of any change here is a weakness in the machinery of reproduction ; it can not be an imaginative bias, since the reproduction is made by a machine, not by a mind subject to instincts and having natural ideals.
It is accordingly a mistake to associate photography with creative art or try to make it imitate the processes of creative art. Vague, deceptive, or idealized photo- graphs are bad, just as vague, deceptive, or idealized memory or history is bad. These pleasing changes, being mechanically caused are mere illusion, and the pleasure we can take in them is shallow.
Photographs should aim at being true; but there is no limit to the beauty and interest which photographs may have the in same way real people and things may have beauty.
The lecture was attended by a large and enthusiastic audience.
Ovving to the great interest shown by people in and about Boston in lectures, I have arranged to bring fam. ous local artists and students of art to speak to photo- graphers (the best way it has seemed to me to raise the
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These two photographs are sent by Mr. G. A. Con- radi, of Bethlehem, Pa., who, commenting upon the same, writes as fol- lows :
" I am sending you un- der separate cover, two views of the Bethlehem Steel Co. works. These views are taken with a 4x5 Solograph, using the double combination for the smaller, and the back lens alone for the larger one. The Solograph is, without doubt, the best on the market, to say nothing of the price. Have made over six dozen exposures during the past three weeks, and they are all like the ones sent you. I can truly say, "no failures with the So- lograph."
standards of photography) in place of the usual plan of photographer speaking to photographer, the large lecture room of the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass., has been engaged for the year and these lectures opened to the public.
The next lecture will be " The Distribution of Masses," by R. MacDougall, Ph. D.,of the Harvard Psych- ological Laboratory, on Dec. 12, at the above place.
If after loading the slides little tickets (the thin gummed paper used by stamp collectors will do well for them) with the speed numbers of the plates are stuck on the slides across the shutters, there can then be no mistake as to what the plate is. On exposure, the paper is broken, so there is no fear of double expo- sure.—J. H. P.
5o much is said now- adays about long focus cameras and combination lenses which allow of tel- ephoto work, that it may be interesting to those concerned in the matter to examine two photo- graphs made by a Cycle Solograph camera, with the regular Solograph lens, and with the same lens when the back com- bination only is used for telephoto work. Both photographs are taken from the same point of view and from the same spot, so that they give a very good idea of the magnification that the Solograph lens allows.
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The Mutter Half-tone Hammer
[December
THE MUIXER HALF-TONE HAMMER.
BY BKRTEL O. HENNING.
NO matter how exacting a photo- engraver finishes a vignetted cut, the most difficult problem which ever confronts a pressman is man- ifest, i. e., to get an impression that will show a graduation from the deep shading to the high lights. Heretofore he has done this by what is termed ** overlaying" — the cutting of paper, the size, matching the shape of the cut. It is also necessary for him to chamfer the edges of this paper ^to match the vignetted portion of the cut. The paper is then pasted on that portion of the impression cylinder or platen of the printing press which comes directly in contact with the cut.
Let it be understood that the ** overlaying '» must be cut exactly to match the cut ; that is, each part of the details, the high lights and the different shades must be " brought out." Therefore, the ** overlay " must be of all con- ceivable shapes. . The outer edges are always
4' v,-:,.
• CPORE USINO MULLCR HAMMER ON HALF-TONE.
AFTER USING MULLER HAMMER ON HALP-TONE.
chamfered to meet the edges of the vignette Not only one sheet or thickness of paper is used on the " overlay," but a sufficient quantity and thickness to bring out the effect. Several weights of paper are used, from tissue paper to much heavier stock.
Thus, in the whole process of " overlaying " the most difficult part is in graduating the shades of the vignette. The edges are bound to " show up " harsh if the most exacting and laborious pains be not taken by the skilled pressman.
The use of the vignetted half-tones for cata- logue work is ever increasing, and thus the pressman's difficulties are increasing in vol- ume.
These difficulties can now be overcome by a hammer recently put on the market.
This hammer is made of hand forged steel, having on one end a single line screen to match any screen from 50 to 150 lines to an inch. On the other is a cross- line screen of 50 lines to an inch, which forms a stipple.
The former is used on half-tone cuts, and
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the latter on zinc etchings, electrotypes, and woodcuts.
The surface of each end is convexed, and the lines and stipples are sharp-cutting edges.
The edge of a half-tone is tapped with the
ion of it, as an engraver. He at once con- demned it and said my samples of the work could not possibly be done with it. It would have been rude to tell him he did not know what he was talking about, so I went at him
single screen end of the hammer firmly, and is thereby rounded off ; thus, the edge being lower than type high, it is impossible for it to be inked and " show up " harsh when printed on the press
When the hammer strikes the surface of the cut the sharp edged lines of the former splits in half the dots of the half-tone, thereby making the surface struck one-half as light in shade. This, combined with the rounded edges, shows, when printed, that the deep shading gradually fades to high lights.
Punches are also used. They are made to match the same screens as the hammers, and are used in places that cannot be reached by the hammers.
The cross line or stipple end is used the same as explained in the foregoing of single screen end, although it can safely be used more advantageously.
Besides softening the edges it can be used on the details of the cut, thus reverting the harsh blacks to high and delicate grains.
The photo-engraver will, atfirst» scoff at the idea of the almost magic effects obtained from the hammers and punches However, he will have to be approached as was this one mentioned below, by a traveling salesman who was in. troducing these hammers and punches. The following is an ex- tract from the latter's letter sent to his firm.
** I have had a day of hammers. I called on ****** I handed him the Muller Halftone Softening Hammer to get his opin-
softly, after he had pointed out to me where it would be impossible for the hammer to do the work on my samples, I induced him to try it. At last he yielded. His whole force of en- gravers and hands came to his rescue, and
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The Mutter Hatf-tone Hammer
[December
shpok their heads and said it would never do to use it on any fine work, so an old plate — 150 screen— was dug out of the scrap pile and he proceeded to soften down the edges. After a few faint taps, he took a proof of it. Every- one had his glass on it. All smiled and said nothing. More tapping. This time a little more force was used, as 1 had recommended in the beginning. Another proof and all hands smiled again. It was my turn to smile with them, but not very loudly. Turning to me the proprietor said: *I take back everything I have said about that hammer.' It had so completely fulfilled its little mission that the whole * push * looked like * 39
'S-iL^-^V >
FULL SIZE.
cents.* The price came next and they wanted one for the same price as they looked — *39 cents/ They could make one themselves for — * well, almost nothing.' But the more they studied it the more they thought
APrCR USINQ MULLEN HAMMER ON STIPPLE OR GRAINED WORK.
mM
FULL SIZE OP OBLONG PUNCH.
it was a dandy tool and not so easy to make. Here is the order for the hammer and punch." While these tools look simple enough, a great deal of care and ingenuity is expended in their manufacture.
Another ** New " Photographic Discovery.— The
new discoveries in connection with photography that from time to time appear in the lay press, are really amus- ing to photographers. On Saturday last the Daily
Mail, in all seriousness, published a communication from its own correspondent at Rome, under the date May 29. that '* Captain Gentili, an Italian officer, who has been experimenting in long-distance photog- raphy, has discovered a means of taking photographs at a distance of twelve miles. By this means it has been possible to photograph fortresses from a distance of eleven miles, and masses of troops at a distance of nine- teen miles." It is added that the captain's invention is likely to become of considerable importance from a military- point of view. Evidently the Daily Mail, or its Rome correspondent, and, possibly, the gallant in- ventor, have never heard of the lelephoto lens, which, thanks to Mr. T. R. Dallmeyer, has been in the market for some years now, and its results are w^ell known. However, this **new" discovery of the Italian officer will, doubtless, go the round of the lay press, and pro- fessional portraitists will, no doubt, be duly informed of it by their sitters, as they are and have been for genera- tions past, of the '* new invention for taking photographs in natural colors." — British Journal of Photography.
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EVENING IN THE CLEMATIS THICKET.
The Man Wc Want.— In every office, shop, factory, or business house employing any sort of a staff the chronic difficulty of the employer is to get the right kind of help. The ** want " advertisements in the newspapers proclaim this from the outside, and many a story of dismal failure to get men to fill responsible positions may be read in the few lines of these •* ads." We know what was running in the mind of the man whose *' ad." ended with the words, '* Duffers need not apply."
Ask any man running a large business if he has any trouble in getting the right kind of men, and he will smile sadly. You don't want to know more, for his experience is yours if you have been on the same tack. What is the remedy ? Only to keep weeding out — a process which is always going on in every business house. The employer is regularly getting rid of those who have shown their incapacity to further the interests of the business, and others are being taken on. No matter how good times are, this sorting out continues; but if times are hard and business is scarce, so that profits are low and money hard to get, the sorting out is
done finer. Out, and forever oyt, the incompetent and the unworthy go, self-interest and self-protection prompting every employer to keep the best. Who shall blame him ? He is only carrying out the old world law, never to be repealed, ** the sur- vival of the fittest" It is a law which may seem hard, but it can be proved to be jusL
Sometimes dismissals of employ^ may seem harsh to the outer world, and hard words are said against the men in power ; but not a word is said of the employer, who grows old before his time in a vain attempt to get frowsy ne'er do-wells to do intel- ligent work— not a word about his longand patient striving with " help " that does nothing but loaf about when his back is turned ; not a word of his struggles to make ends meet and pro- vide the money every Saturday, year in and year out. to pay worthless ingrates for services they have never rendered ; not a word of the losses suffered by the employer through the blunders and incapacity of shallow- pated duffers who draw their money as long as they can under false pre- tences—the pretence of exercising an intelligence which they either never possessed or never tried to exert ; not a word of material wasted, tools and apparatus spoiled, and machinery ruined by thoughtlessness and care- lessness, if not by gross ignorance.
If there is anybody to be pitied, it is the ihan who is striving to carry on a great enterprise against fearful odds ; whose working hours are not limited by the sound of the bell or whistle, and whose hair is fast turn- ing white through the struggle to keep in line the dowdy indifference, slip-shod imbecility and heartless ingrati- tude of those who, but for his energy, would be both hungry and homeless.
If there is any sympathy to spare in the world, let it go right out to the man who, having succeeded to the responsibility of running a business on his own acoount, finds there is nothing in it— nothing but shabby clothes, plain fare, and perhaps bare boards— not even thanks for the wearying task of directing the efforts of those who have not the brain-power to think for them- selves. Many a man whom the world looks upon as successful is probably worse off than his men, if the truth were told.
No man who has endeavored to carry out an enter- prise where many hands were needed but has been well- nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man he employs, the inability or unwillingness to con- centrate on a thing and to do it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, and half- hearted work seem the rule ; no man succeeds unless, by
IV. y. Mullins,
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hook or crook or threat, he forces or bribes other men to assist him, or unless, mayhap Providence sends him an angel of light for an assistant — in fact, one of those men we want in business.
We have heard too much maudlin sympathy expressed for the *' down-trodden victim of the sweater," the *• homeless wanderer searching for honest employment," the *• white slaves of the workshop," and the like ; but the employer or works manager who is right among the working classes knows what rot such talk is. Why is it that there are men in the same w^orkshop and in the same trade, some of whom are earning only 6d. per hour, while others are earning is. or more ? Is it not a fact that the men who grumble about low pay lose time nearly every day in the week through unpunctuality, and through keeping the festival of Saint Monday, and who '* sub *' their wages all through the week owing to their thrif tilessness ? Ask any works manager what is the usual result of giving a job to the *' homeless wanderer searching for honest employment." In all businesses there is a constant demand for good men, and no man who is worth his salt will be long out of a job. It rests with men themselves to attain and hold good positions, and no power on earth will ever alter that fact.
Why don't the well-meaning but simple-minded peo- ple who spend their time ** slumming," trying to find out evils without endeavoring to discover the remedy — why don't they go out into the world and preach the philosophy that it is in the power of all men •* to rise on stepping-stones of their dead selves tc higher things," that every man is *' the architect of his own fortune," the *• arbiter of his own destiny," and that all wealth, honor, and power in the world are favors within the reach of. every man endowed with common sense and energy? Teach men that the wisdom of Solomon is equally the wisdom of to'-day: " Seest thou a man dili- gent in business, and he shall stand before kings." Teach a man that, instead of the pernicious socialism and trades unionism with which the minds of would-be honest workers are now warped and poisoned.. The examples of ** men who have risen " from the lowest ranks to the greatest success and influence in life should be held up to the 5^oung as an incentive to advance- ment. The schools should teach lads the principles which govern men's success in life, rather than the dry
bones of an education which is worthless unless applied with common sense.
It is this incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwill- ingness to "catch hold and lift," that are the things which put pure socialism so far in the future. If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for aXM— Penrose* s Process Work,
An Adroit Swindle— By the simple aid of some pho- tographs in a drawing-room, a total stranger to a family in the country, upon whom he suddenly called last week, was enabled to carry out a delightfully impudent series of impositions. The man, we are told in the newspaper report, walked into his victim's house and entered the drawing-room with a very familiar air, saying to a friend of the host, who was playing the piano, " Go on, old lad, play up. I'm your cousin." Taking up some photo- graphs from the mantelpiece, he claimed relationship with the oric:inals, shook hands and spoke very warmly with different members of the household, and finally de- clared himself to be a cousin from America, promising to break the secret of his name on the morrow. Believ- ing his statements, the family provided him with a number of articles, and entertained him in a most cordial manner. He made himself thoroughly at home, and in the course of the evening sang several songs. Money was lent to him, and altogether he had a right royal time. Before very long, however, he was detected to be an impostor, and the police took charge of him. There were two cases against him of imposing upon tradesmen by representing that he was a friend from South Africa. The end of it was that the impostor was sent to prison for three months. We are almost tempted to say that he deserved to be let off for his smartness. Evidently it was by the aid of the photographs on the mantelpiece that he was enabled to start and maintain his game of deception. Suppose they had not been there ? Probably he would not so easily have wormed himself into the good graces of his victims. A smooth and safe course to the sympathetic attention of a stranger is to take (or feign) great interest in the photographs of his or her re- latives. This swindler was evidently aware of it and profited accordingly. — Photographic News.
lya/ter G. Berth' ng.
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